snail  lena  mo  any  person 
same  household ;  and  no  person  owing 
forfeiture  shall  receive  books  from  th 
until  the  same  is  paid. 


5.— All   Inhabitants  of  the   Cltv  of  Riddefovd     H 


THREE  THOUSAND  MILES 


THROIrGH    T1IK 


MOUNTAIN'S 


McCLURE.    !  ' 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 

1  8  0  0. 


.  \» 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT    &    CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


Library 


PREFACE. 


IN  presenting  these  letters  to  the  public  in  book  form,  I 
do  not  claim  for  them  any  measure  of  literary  merit.  They 
were  written  hastily,  during  a  journey  of  three  thousand 
miles  through  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  often  in  the 
midst  of  annoyances  not  favorable  to  epistolary  perfection. 
The  letters  embrace  two  distinct  series:  one  published  in 
the  New  York  "  Tribune,"  and  the  other  published  in  the 
"  Franklin  Repository,"  which  will  account  for  the  treat- 
ment of  the  same  topics  in  different  letters,  although  always 
substantially  varied.  I  need  hardly  say  that  they  were  not 
written  with  the  design  to  collect  them  in  book  form ;  and 
now,  when  the  wide-spread  interest  felt  in  the  rapidly- 
growing  Great  West  seems  to  demand  reliable  information 
of  the  people,  resources,  progress,  and  destiny  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Territories,  I  find  it  impossible  to  revise  the  let- 
ters so  as  to  conform  them  to  the  exactions  of  the  critical 
without  depriving  them  of  much  of  their  freshness,  and, 
probably,  some  of  their  usefulness.  Fully  conscious  of  their 
many  imperfections,  I  have  consented  to  their  publication 
only  because  I  hope  thereby  to  afford,  in  some  humble  de- 
gree, the  long-delayed  justice  to  the  pioneers  of  the  West, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  give  some  little  additional  strength  to 
the  growing  disposition  to  make  the  boundless  mineral  and 
agricultural  wealth  of  the  Territories  available  to  benefit  our 
common  country.  He  who  aids,  in  any  measure,  in  advan- 

(3) 


4  PREFACE. 

cing  our  people  and  our  government  to  a  just  appreciation 
of  the  limitless  riches  which  the  Great  West  has  so  long 
offered  to  the  nation,  will  not  have  lived  without  benefit  to 
his  people ;  and  it  is  to  contribute  my  mite  to  that  great 
end  that  these  pages  are  presented  to  the  public.  I  am 
fully  sensible  that,  in  another  decade,  scores  of  new  records 
of  the  West  will  be  written  by  abler  pens  than  mine ;  and 
each  new  advocate  will  have  brighter  fields  to  explore  and 
more  dazzling  pictures  to  present,  as  the  nation  is  made  to 
grasp  its  matchless  prize  of  wealth  toward  the  setting  sun. 
Before  that  brief  time  shall  elapse,  these  crude  pages  will  be 
forgotten, — unless  by  the  few  who  preserve  the  erratic  foot- 
prints of  Western  progress.  Three  through-lines  of  railroad 
will  span  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  dot- 
ting their  lines  with  new  cities,  new  settlements,  new 
churches,  new  schools,  new  communities,  and  new  and 
mighty  States ;  and  the  freshly-inspired  commerce  of  the 
ancient  empire  will  be  turned  from  its  westward  course 
toward  the  Great  Republic  in  the  East,  and  mingle  with 
the  newly-created  millions  of  products  of  our  new-born 
Commonwealths,  as  united  they  sweep  across  our  conti- 
nent to  our  commercial  centres,  and  thence  to  the  Old 
World.  To  hasten  the  events  that  will  cause  these  letters 
to  be  forgotten,  is  now  their  mission ;  and  their  faults  may 
be  freely  condemned,  if  they  shall  render  the  humblest  aid 
to  enlarge  the  stature  of  our  Western  empire. 

A.  K.  M. 
PHILADELPHIA,  April,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER    I.  PAGE 

From  Chambersburg  to  Pittsburg. — Parting  with  Old  Friends. — The 
Juniata  Valley. — Crossing  the  Alleghanies. —  The  Progress  of  a 
Quarter  of  a  Century. — A  Day  in  Pittsburg.  .  .  .17 

LETTER    II. 

Pittsburg  to  Chicago. — Farewell  to  the  Pennsylvania  Mountains. — 
The  Progress  of  the  West.— Western  Boys.— A  Delightful  Sleeping- 
Car. — The  Conventionalities  of  Society  on  Sleeping-Cars. — An 
Early  Breakfast. — A  Locomotive-Race. — Excitement  of  the  Pas- 
sengers.— Westward  Travel  stopped  by  the  Floods.  .  .  22 

LETTER  III. 

Chicago  to  Omaha. — Chicago  a  Fast  City. — Getting  News  in  the 
West. — The  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad. — Its  Hasty  and 
Imperfect  Construction. — The  Missouri  Flood. — Western  Iowa. — 
"Square  Meals." — Western  Luxuries. — A  Wreck. —  Delay  and 
Scarcity  of  Provisions. —  Lunch-baskets. — A  Foraging  Party. — 
Indifferent  Success. — "All  Right  again." — Another  Stop  at  Honey- 
brook. — Another  Hunt  for  Rations. — Dealing  with  a  Western  Dame 
for  Milk  and  Bread. — Swindled  by  Biddy. — Council  Bluffs. — An 
Unpleasant  Night  in  the  Cars. — Trouble  in  crossing  the  Missouri 
River. — The  People  of  Omaha.  .  .  .  .  .27 

LETTER   IV. 

Council  Bluffs.— The  Enterprise  and  Thrift  of  Omaha.— A  Specimen 
Western  City. —  How  Houses  are  built  in  a  Day. —  The  Indian 
War. — General  Augur's  projected  Campaign  in  the  Hostile  Coun- 
try.— Position  and  Numbers  of  many  of  the  Indian  Tribes  un- 
known.— Our  Military  Force  inadequate  for  War. — Embarrass- 
ments of  the  Indian  Problem. — The  Inevitable  Fate  of  the  Red 
Man. — Sympathy  of  the  Military  with  the  Indians. — The  Opinions 
of  the  Western  People.  .  .  .  .  .  .37 

LETTER   V. 

Starting  from  Omaha  for  the  Plains.— The  Union  Pacific  Railroad.— 
The  Flood  in  the  Platte  Valley.— The  Platte  River.— Scarcity  of 
Shrubbery  and  Trees. — The  Adobe  Shanties. — Antelopes  and  Buffa- 

(6J 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

loes. — The  Indian  War  again. — It  grows  more  serious. — General 
Hancock's  Expedition  South. — His  Enemy  raids  North. — The  Cost 
of  killing  Indians. — The  Military  embarrassed  by  the  Civil  Au- 
thorities.— Transfer  of  the  Indians  to  the  War  Department  a  Neces- 
sity.— Off  again  Westward.  .  .  .  .  .  .45 

LETTEK   VI. 

From  North  Platte  to  Denver.— The  Barrenness  of  the  Platte  Valley. 
— The  "Lone  Tree"  and  "Plum  Creek"  not  visible.  —  Sources 
of  the  Platte  River. — First  Experiment  in  Overland  Staging. — The 
First  Indian  Alarm. — Troops  protecting  a  Whisky-Mill. — Alarm  of 
the  Station-Men.  —  A  Cowardly  Driver  induced  to  change  his 
Strategy. — A  Canadian  Frenchman  uses  a  Revolver  as  a  Persuader. 
—The  First  "Square  Meal"  on  the  Plains.— Fort  Sedgwick.— 
Plenty  of  Troops,  but  ineffective. — Indians  drive  in  the  Cavalry. — 
The  Stage  goes  on  and  passes  in  Safety. — Quicksand  and  Sand- 
Gnats.— A  Burnt  Station.— Supper  with  "Old  Wicked."— The  Din- 
ner at  Living  Spring. — Arrival  at  Denver.  .  .  .53 

LETTER  VII. 

Efforts  to  understand  the  Indian  Question. — The  Western  Demand 
for  Chivington  or  Conner. — Western  Contempt  for  the  Regular 
Army. — Why  Regulars  do  not  fight  Indians  successfully. — Advan- 
tages of  the  Indians  in  a  Summer  Campaign. — The  Monuments  of 
Indian  Warfare.— The  Platto  Valley  Raid  of  1865.— Horrible  Cruel- 
ties of  the  Savages.— Hollen  Godfrey,  or  "Old  Wicked."— His  De- 
fense of  his  Ranch. — A  Supper  with  him,  and  his  Story  of  his 
Fight. — His  Solution  of  the  Indian  Problem. — He  regards  Indians 
as  Peaceable  when  they  are  Dead. — How  Indians  conduct  Cam- 
paigns.— Their  Signals  and  Spies. — There  must  be  Peace. — It  will 
be  the  Peace  of  Death  to  the  Indian. — The  Harney  and  Chivington 
Wars.  *  .  .  .  .  .  .  .65 

LETTER  VIII. 

A  Prolific  Subject  for  the  Letter-writer.— An  Afternoon  at  the  Denver 
Races. — An  Interesting  Race. — The  Value  of  a  Sporting  Watch 
discovered. — Denver  and  its  People. — Its  Experience  with  Despera- 
does.— The  Fate  of  the  Steels. — The  Attack  upon  Mr.  Byers. — Mr. 
Hepworth  Dixon's  Blunders. — His  Hero  Bob  Wilson. — The  Order, 
Morality,  and  Advantages  of  Denver. — Character  of  Western  Set- 
tlers.— What  Sacrifices  they  make,  and  how  poorly  requited. — The 
Lark.— The  Prairie-dog  and  Owl.— The  Rattlesnake.— The  Indian 
Troubles  again. — The  Overland  Route  closed  by  Savages  East  and 
West. — Indian  Atrocities. — Western  Volunteers  the  Remedy.  .  77 

LETTER   IX. 

Colorado  and  her  Progress. — The  Substantial  Progress  of  Denver. — 
Its  Depression  and  Prospects.— The  Evils  of  Selfish  Politicians.— 
Colorado  a  Gigantic  Suicide  in  the  Management  of  her  Rich  Mines. 
The  Rage  of  Speculation,  and  consequent  Bankruptcy. — The  City 
of  Abandoned  Quartz-Mills. — Twenty  Millions  of  Capital  wasted  in 


CONTENTS.  f 

PAGE 

Feverish  Speculation.  —  Legitimate  Development  retarded. — The 
Prospect  of  Restoration  to  Prosperous  Business. — The  Trip  through 
the  Mountains. — Their  Matchless  Grandeur. — The  Storm-King  in 
Conflict  with  the  Snow-capped  Peaks.  .  .  .  .88 

LETTER  X. 

Indian-bound  in  Denver. — The  Savages  controlling  the  Overland 
Route  East  and  West. — General  Augur's  Use  of  Troops. — Interest- 
ing Telegraphic  Correspondence  with  him. — His  "Upper  Country" 
Campaign. —  No  Earnest  Effort  to  protect  the  Great  Overland 
Routes. — A  Pleasant  Time  with  the  Coloradans. — New  Treatment 
of  Strangers.— Why  Dixon  was  fooled.— The  Variety  of  Character 
in  the  West.— The  Stage-Driver.— His  Skill,  Intelligence,  and 
Courtesy. — Staging  about  Denver. — The  "Square  Meals"  of  the 
West. — High  Prices  of  Labor. — House-Servants  and  Wives  wanted. 
—Judge  Eyster.— Colonel  Wash.  Lee.  .  .  .  .98 

LETTER   XI. 

Still  Indian-bound  in  Colorado. — End  of  Hancock's  Expedition. — 
Another  Peace-talk  to  be  had  with  the  Savages.— The  Indians  raid 
the  Overland  Routes,  while  the  Troops  are  ordered  to  hunt  Indians 
where  they  are  not  to  be  found. — General  Sherman's  Policy. — Great 
Injustice  to  the  West.— The  Tide  of  Emigration  arrested.— The 
Necessity  of  protecting  One  Route. — Contractors  said  to  be  en- 
couraging War. — The  Sad  Failure  of  Mining-Companies  in  Colo- 
rado.— Their  Hopeless  Future. — Legitimate  Enterprise  the  only 
Way  to  Success  in  the  Mines. — The  Variations  of  Colorado  Cli- 
mate.—The  Crops.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .107 

LETTER  XII. 

A  Journey  to  Colorado  City. — Crossing  the  Divide. — Thunder-  and 
Snow-Storms. — The  Pines. — Bierstadt  and  the  Colorado  Rocks. — 
Storm-staid  at  "  The  Dirty  Woman's  Ranch."— A  Western  Cabin.— 
A  Pleasant  and  Hospitable  Hostess. — A  Bright  Fire  and  Excellent 
Supper. — The  Guests  chat  away  the  Evening. — The  "  Garden  of 
the  Gods." — Grandeur  of  the  Monuments. — Natural  Pillars  from 
Three  to  Five  Hundred  Feet  High.— They  appear- like  Ruins  of 
Colossal  Statuary. — The  Mineral  Springs. — Camp  Creek  Canon. — 
A  Severe  Snow-Storm. — Vain  Attempt  to  procure  Shelter  from  a 
Fugitive  Mormoness. — Petrifactions  on  the  Platte.  .  .  114 

LETTER   XIII. 

Storm-bound  in  Denver. — An  Old-fashioned  Eastern  Settled  Rain. — 
The  "Oldest  Inhabitant"  cannot  explain  it. — Rapid  Rise  of  the 
Mountain-Streams. — The  Stage  stopped  by  the  Flood. — Peril  of  Pas- 
sengers in  crossing  a  Little  Stream. — Prospects  of  Indian  Raids. — 
No  "Friendlies"  visible  but  the  Utes. — The  First  Settlers  of  Colorado. 
— Legislation  to  defeat  Foreign  Creditors. — Summary  Execution  of 
Part  of  Quantrell's  Band. — Agricultural  Productions  of  Colorado.  122 


CONTENT*. 


LETTER   XIV. 

Off  from  Denver. — The  Party. — Our  Arms. — Indians  in  Front  and 
Rear. — Swollen  Streams. — Crossing  Boulder. — Virginia  Dale. — The 
Savages  uncomfortably  Close. — Prospect  of  a  Brush. — Passing  the 
Black  Hills.— Tactics  of  the  Indians.— When  they  attack.— Arrival 
at  Cooper's  Creek. — The  Stage-Horses  stolen  by  the  Indians. — The 
Policy  of  the  Military. — An  Escort  of  Three  Troopers. — Fort  Hal- 
leek. — Elk  Mountain. — Running  the  Gauntlet  of  an  Indian  Camp. 
—The  Driver  and  his  Strategy.— A  Hasty  Drive.— North  Platte. — 
The  Indians  on  the  War-Path  ahead.— A  Council  of  War.— A  For- 
ward Movement  decided  on. — A  Bright  but  Deceptive  Morning. — 
The  First  Station  abandoned,  and  the  Second  Burning. — A  Sober 
Dinner-Party  at  Pine  Grove. — A  Pitiless  Snow-Storm. — The  Sta- 
tion burning  on  the  Summit  of  the  Rocky  Range. — Our  Situation 
most  critical. — "  Big  Dick."— Fresh  Tracks,  and  a  Line  of  Battle 
necessary. —  Dick's  Disposal  of  the  Lady. —  The  "Cusses"  over- 
taken.— A  Mutual  Retreat. — Firing  forbidden  by  Dick. — Arrival  at 
Sulphur  Spring. — The  Horses  captured  there  the  same  Day. — The 
Battle  the  Day  before. — A  Melancholy  Stage-Drive. — Captain  Wil- 
son's Apology  to  General  Sherman. — The  Accommodations. — The 
Alarm. — Westward  again.  ......  127 

LETTER  XV. 

Departure  from  Sulphur  Spring. — The  Savages  witness  our  Depart- 
ure.—Military  Strategy  of  the  Old  Station-Man.— The  Pets  of  the 
Stations. — Cats,  Dogs,  and  Chickens. — Vengeance  of  the  Indians 
in  killing  the  Station  Pets. — Indians  attack  a  Train. — Bitter  Creek 
reached.— The  Alkali  Water  and  Dust.— Green  River.— Fresh  Water 
again. — A  Dispute  for  the  Team. — The  Driver  convinced  in  our 
Favor.— A  Belligerent  Official.— The  Church  Buttes.— A  Team  of 
Bronchos. — FortBridger. — Hospitality  of  Judge  Carter. — The  Mor- 
mon War. — Indians. — Contempt  of  the  Males  for  Women. — The 
Quaking  Asp  Summit. — A  Night  at  Bear  River. — Echo  Canon. — 
Hank  Conner  and  his  Gay  Team. — Among  the  Mormons  at  Weber. 
— Crossing  the  Wasatch  Range. — Five  Feet  of  Snow. — A  Harmless 
Upset.— Arrival  at  Salt  Lake.  .  .  .  .  .143 

LETTER   XVI. 

Hospitality  of  the  Mormons. — Despotism  of  the  Mormon  Leaders. — 
The  Theory  of  Mormon  Power. — Character  of  the  Mormon  Emi- 
grants.— Their  Greatly  Improved  Temporal  Condition. — The  Serfs 
of  the  Old  World  become  Thrifty  Farmers  in  Utah.  —  Brigham 
Young. — His  Abilities  as  an  Adminstrator  generally  underrated. — 
His  Appearance,  Culture,  and  Manners. — His  Wives. — The  Last 
and  Favorite  an  Apple  of  Discord  in  the  Prophet's  Home. — Poly- 
gamy as  a  Source  of  Power. — Plural  Wives. — The  Terrors  of  Poly- 
gamy to  Mormon  Women. — Preaching  in  the  Tabernacle. — Brigham 
Young's  Sermon. — His  Blasphemy  and  Profanity. — His  Temporal 
Power. — His  Financial  Management. — Distracting  Issues  in  the 
Church. — The  Causes  combining  to  the  Overthrow  of  Mormonism.  154 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER    XVII. 

The  Pleasant  City  of  the  Saints.— Their  Industry  and  Thrift.— Their 
Enjoyments. — The  Great  Basin. — Salt  Lake. — Its  Tributaries. — 
Why  Utah  was  chosen  by  the  Mormons. — Character  of  the  Valley 
when  they  found  it. — Success  of  Mormon  Industry. — The  Mormon 
Religion. — Brigham  Young  Spiritual  and  Temporal  Head  of  the 
Church.— His  Wives.— The  Religious  Feature  of  Polygamy.— Mor- 
mon Wives  again. — Mormon  Service  in  the  Tabernacle. — The  Blot 
of  Polygamy.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .165 

LETTER   XVIII. 

Continued  Interruption  of  Travel. — The  Indian  Campaigns. — The  In- 
justice done  the  Western  People. — Desire  of  the  West  for  Peace. — 
The  Inefficiency  of  the  Military.— Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.— Their  Horses 
exposed  to  Indians  for  Want  of  Feed. — No  Valuable  Horses  on  the 
Mountain  Divisions. — Passengers  exposed  to  Danger  for  Want  of 
Stock. — The  Stables  undefended. — No  Horses  stolen  from  Defended 
Stables. — Mr.  Holliday. — He  deranges  the  Line,  and  then  falls 
back. — Kindness  of  the  Employe's  of  the  Company.  .  .  175 

LETTER  XIX. 

A  Delightful  Journey  through  Mormondom. — How  Brigham  "  dic- 
tates" to  the  Faithful. — The  Bishops  and  their  Revenues. — How 
they  assist  the  Poor. — The  Mormon  Industrial  System  a  Success. — 
Ogden  City. — Bishop  West  and  his  Eight  Wives. — How  a  Mormon 
Bishop  luxuriates. — The  Prairie-Flowers. — Bear  River. — Countless 
Mosquitoes  and  Gnats. — Passengers  and  Driver  veiled. — Idaho. — 
Appropriate  Names  of  Stations. — Climbing  the  Rocky  Range  again.  184 

LETTER   XX. 

A  Night-Ride  on  the  Summit  of  the  Rocky  Range. — The  Mosquitoes 
again. — Pleasant  Valley  Station  a  Fraud. — Parting  of  the  Waters 
on  the  Summit  to  the  Eastern  and  Western  Seas. — The  Source  of 
the  Missouri  and  Columbia  Rivers. — The  Snake  River. — Its  Tortu- 
ous Course  through  the  Mountains. — The  Stinking-Water  River. — 
Virginia  City.— Its  First  Settlers.— Alder  Gulch.— Its  Wonderful 
Yield  of  Gold.— Belt  of  Rich  Mines.— The  Precious  Metals  of  Mon- 
tana.— Agricultural  Resources  of  the  Territory. — Irregularity  of  the 
Mails. — Wells,  Fargo  <fe  Co.'s  Special  Mails. — A  Premium  paid  for 
Neglect  to  convey  the  Mails. — How  to  test  the  Safety  of  the  Over- 
land Route.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .190 

LETTER  XXI. 

Reluctant  Parting  with  the  Mormons. —  The  Beauty  of  Mormon 
Homes.— They  labor  for  Beauty  and  Plenty.— The  Ogden  Bishop 
again. — The  Sterile  Waste  across  Idaho.  —  The  Mosquitoes  and 
Gnats.— The  Station-Men  and  their  Pets.— A  New  and  Novel  Apart- 
ment.— Mice  in  the  Place  of  Cats  and  Dogs. — A  ''  Square  Meal"  at 
Pleasant  Valley.— A  Good  Supper  and  Grateful  Rest  at  Black  Tail 
Deer.— The  Last  Fifty  Miles.— Sleeping  in  the  Coach.— The  Wel- 
come Moon.— The  God  of  Day  gilding  the  Rocky  Domes.  .  .  199 

2 


10  CONTENTS. 


LETTER    XXII. 

Union  City. — Its  Architecture  and  Population. — Its  Sobriety. — The 
Single  Monument  of  its  Mortality. — The  Bluebird  and  Robin. — The 
Natal  Day  of  the  Republic. — How  it  was  not  celebrated. — The  West- 
ern People. — Their  Cordial  Hospitality  and  Kindness. — How  Peo- 
ple are  "corraled." — Western  Terms  and  their  Significance. — How 
they  live. — The  Bountiful  Boards  of  the  Miners. — How  Sunday  is 
observed. — Sunday  Auctions. — Gambling-Hells  licensed  by  Law. — 
The  Charms  of  Western  Life.  .  .  .  .  .207 

LETTER  XXIII. 

Mining  in  Montana. — The  Failures  of  Quartz-Mills  in  the  Midst  of 
Rich  Mines. — Hundreds  of  Mills  should  be  paying  in  the  Territory. 
— The  Cost  of  Mining  and  Working  Ores. — Prices  in  Montana. — The 
Money  paid  for  Freights. — Fluctuations  in  Business. — Why  Mining 
Companies  fail. — The  Best  Mines  owned  in  Small  Fractions. — Eco- 
nomical Development  impossible. — The  "  Freeze-out"  Game. — How 
Companies  should  test  Mines  before  purchasing. — Mills  not  needed 
until  Mines  are  fully  developed. — Character  of  Ores  to  determine 
Character  of  Machinery. — Montana  as  a  Field  for  Successful  In- 
vestments. .  .  .  .  .  .  .  214 

LETTER  XXIV. 

The  Montana  Vigilanters. — The  Reign  of  Crime  in  the  Mining  Re- 
gions.— Montana  the  Refuge  of  the  Lawless. — The  Concentration  of 
Desperadoes. — How  Virginia  City  was  named. — Organization  of 
Plummer's  Band. —  Plummer  Sheriff"  of  the  Territory. —  All  the 
Channels  of  the  Law  controlled. — Completeness  of  the  Organization. 
— Its  Signs  and  Officers. — Victims  unconsciously  notifying  the 
Robbers  of  their  Prey. — The  Tide  of  Retribution. — Its  Merciless 
Sweep. — Colonel  John  X.  Beidler. — The  Hero  of  Montana  Justice. 
— His  History  and  Exploits. — How  the  Judgment  of  the  Vigilanters 
is  executed. — The  First  Execution. — The  Last  of  Plummer's  Band. 
— The  Great  Revolution  wrought  by  the  Vigilanters. — One  of  their 
own  Members  executed. — The  Justice  of  their  Judgments. — The 
Restoration  of  Order  and  Safety.  .  .  .  .  .226 

LETTER  XXV. 

A  Political  Mandamus. — Opening  of  a  Mountain  Political  Campaign. 
— Western  People. — Their  Generosity  and  Prodigality. — Extrava- 
gance of  Prosperous  Times. — The  Restless  Prospecter. — Sunday  in 
Virginia  City. — Street-Auctions. — Cheap  John  on  Eastern  Notions. 
— Shepherds  get  astray. — Sunday  in  Union  City. — The  Children  of 
the  Village.— Departure  of  Little  Eva.— Her  Affecting  Farewell.— 
Little  Alice.  —  Her  Theological  Disputation.  —  Corraled  in  the 
Mountains  by  Indians  and  Low  Water.  .  .  .  .  239 

LETTER    XXVI. 

The  City  of  Hoggum. — How  it  got  its  Name. — The  Hoggum  Hust- 
ings.— An  Unsympathizing  Audience  and  an  Uninspired  Speaker. 


CONTENTS,  11 

PAGE 

— A  Hospitable  Pennsylvania  Farmer. — A  Hot  Ride  across  the 
Prairies  and  Cliffs.— Rest  and  Refreshments  on  the  Madison.— The 
Madison  Valley. — The  Devastation  of  the  Grasshoppers. — Crossing 
the  Hot  Springs  Divide. — A  Continued  Belt  of  Gold-Leads. — Pro- 
posed Military  and  Prospecting  Campaign  into  the  Yellowstone. — 
The  M.  M.,  or  Montana  Militia. — How  they  deal  with  the  Indians. 
— Hot  Springs  District. — The  Quartz-Mills  and  Mines. — Obstacles 
to  Successful  Mining. — A  Political  Meeting. — Interesting  Discus- 
sion.— Rocky  Mountain  Audiences  and  Orators. — Pleasant  Enter- 
tainment at  Lower  Hot  Springs. — A  Mountain-Dairy. — Prices  of 
Milk  and  Butter. — Dinner  in  the  Gallatin  Valley. — A  Missouri 
Spinster  the  Hostess. — Welcomed  to  Bozeman. — Another  Political 
Meeting. — Entertained  by  the  Lawyer  of  the  City. — One  Room  for 
Chamber,  Dining-Room,  and  Office.— Down  Gallatin  Valley.— Its 
Beauty  and  Fruitfulness. — Political  Meeting  at  Gallatin  City. — 
But  One  Republican  present. — The  Head  of  the  Missouri. — Another 
Hot  Drive  to  Hoggum.  .  .  .  .  .  .246 

LETTER  XXVII. 

Crossing  the  Plains  and  Divides  to  the  Madison. — Madison  Valley. — 
Its  "Fertility. — Indifferent  Farming. — Mormon  Industry  and  Sys- 
tem wanted. — Ravages  of  the  Grasshoppers. — Swarms  of  Millions 
migrating  from  one  Valley  to  another. — No  Crops  next  Year. — The 
Crickets  and  their  Ravages. — Hot  Springs  Mines  and  Mills  again. 
— The  Gallatin  Valley. — Its  Beautiful  Streams,  Bountiful  Farms, 
and  Splendid  Herds. — Farming  a  Permanent  Business  in  the  Galla- 
tin.— Fine  Crops  and  Implements. — Yield  and  Price  of  Wheat. — 
Bozeman  City. — Colonel  Bozeman. — His  Murder  by  the  Savages. 
—The  Montana  Militia.— Gallatin  City.— Its  Hasty  Rise  and  De- 
cline.— Its  Founders  ignorant  of  Geography. — The  City  Cabins  now 
grace  the  Prosperous  Ranches.  .....  261 

LETTER  XXVIII. 

The  Morning  Air  of  the  Mountains. — A  AVonderful  Tonic. — Mount- 
ain-Pasturage.— How  Cattle  are  wintered. — Bunch  Grass  and  Ten- 
der Beef.— The  Gallatin  Valley  again.— Its  Fertility  and  many 
Advantages. — The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. — The  Navigation  of 
the  Upper  Missouri. — The  rich  Region  east  of  Gallatin. — The  Sav- 
age resisting  Civilization. — Settlements  extending  East  and  West 
through  Montana. — The  Inevitable  Solution  of  the  Indian  Problem. 
— Prickly  Pear  Valley. — Dinner  and  Rest. — Don  Pedro  and  his 
Mistress. — Welcome  to  Helena. — Dr.  Cassin  Command. — His  Ideas 
of  Water  as  a  Steady  Beverage. — A  Bottle  of  Wine  his  Sovereign 
Remedy. — Another  Political  Meeting. — Speech  refuted  in  the  News- 
papers.— A  Day  at  the  Hot  Springs. — Mrs.  General  Meagher. — Ex- 
cellent Dinner  and  Baths. — Virtue  and  Vice.  .  .  .  272 

LETTER  XXIX. 

The  Head  of  the  Missouri  River.— A  Beautiful  Prospect.— The  Cliff 
on  which  Lewis  and  Clarke  first  viewed  and  named  the  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Gallatin  Rivers. — Navigation  of  the  Upper  Missouri. 


12  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— From  Gallatin  to  Hoggum. — The  Missouri  and  Prickly  Pear  Val- 
leys.—The  Fertile  Soil  about  Helena.— Helena  City.— Its  Rapid 
Growth.— Character  of  its  People.— Its  Rich  Bars  and  Gulches.— 
Water-Ditches. — The  Hangman's  Tree.— James  W.  Whitlach.— The 
Whitlach  Union  Mine.— The  Reward  of  Earnest  Development.  .  281 

LETTER  XXX. 

The  Trade  and  Prosperity  of  Helena. — The  Immense  Consumption  of 
a  Small  Population.— Climbing  the  Rocky  Range  again.— The  Mul- 
len Wagon-Road  an  Old  Indian  Trail. — Magnificent  Timber  on  the 
Northern  Slopes  of  the  Range. — Fine  Blooded  Cattle  grazing  on  the 
Mountains. —  Parting  of  the  Waters. —  Meadow  Brook. —  Brook- 
Trout.— A  "  Batch"  Dinner.— Carpenter's  Bar.— Blackfoot  City. — 
Political  Speaking. — Competition  of  the  Gambling-Saloons  and 
Bars. — Good  Order  preserved. — Democratic  Meeting  on  Sunday. — 
The  Salute  to  General  Smith.— Judge  Williston.  .  .  .288 

LETTER   XXXI. 

The  Forests  of  the  Rocky  Range  on  Mullen's  Pass. — The  Mountains 
on  Fire. — Deer  Lodge  Valley. — Its  Mining-Districts. — Promising 
Gold  and  Silver  Leads.  —  Exorbitant  Prices  named  in  Bonds  to 
Middle-Men. — Legitimate  Mining. — Failure  almost  invariably  due 
to  Mismanagement. — Deer  Lodge  City. — Its  Beautiful  Streams  and 
Vast  Herds. — Its  Great  Mineral  Spring. — Agricultural  Settlements 
of  Montana.— The  Missoula  Valley.— Growth  of  Fruit.  .  .  294 

LETTER  XXXII. 

Sunday  in  Blackfoot.— A  Pet  Dog  stolen.— A  Bucking  Kiyuse.— West- 
ern Riders. — How  they  saddle  and  bridle  Western  Ponies. — Con- 
quering the  Kiyuse. — Judge  Williston. — Deer  Lodge  City. — Game 
in  the  Valley. — Crossing  the  Rocky  Range  again  at  Big  Hole  Pass. 
— The  Gradual  Ascent  from  the  West. — Another  Batch  Dinner — 
The  Batch's  Pets.— Divide  Creek.— Its  Waters  coursing  to  both 
Oceans. — Fourth  Crossing  of  the  Rocky  Range. — Big  Hole  Valley. 
— Hospitality  of  Moose  Creek. — A  Delightful  Supper. — A  Bed  of 
Doubtful  Color. — A  Struggle  with  Bedbugs. — A  Loquacious  Land- 
lady.— Her  Untidiness. — Her  Conflicts  with  the  Bugs. — A  Dubious 
Breakfast. — Two  Thousand  Miles  of  Pleasant  Staging  in  the  Mount- 
ains. ........  301 

LETTER  XXXIII. 

Deer  Lodge  River  and  its  Tributaries. — Highland  and  Butte  City 
Mining-Districts. — Marvelous  Yield  of  Ores. — Big  Hole  Valley. — 
Beaver-Head  River  and  Valley. — Ravages  of  the  Grasshoppers. — 
Stinking-Water  Valley  and  its  Fine  Improvements.  —  Lorrain's 
Ranch. — His  History. — A  Settler  for  a  Quarter  of  a  Century. — His 
Brides. — His  Last  Beat  Gift,  and  how  he  got  her. — His  Vast  Posses- 
sions.— Romantic  Fishing-Parties. — Pleasant  Rides  over  the  Prai- 
rie.—Alder  Gulch  and  its  Wealth.  .  .  .  .307 


CONTENTS.  13 


LETTER  XXXIV. 

The  Mineral  Wealth  of  Montana.— Recent  Discoveries  of  Mines  of 
Great  Promise. — The  Economical  Delivery  of  Ores. — Causes  of  Fail- 
ure of  Mills. — Improved  Machinery  coming  into  the  Territory. — 
Prospects  of  Legitimate  Mining  in  Montana. — The  "Freeze-out 
Game." — Judicious  Development  of  Mines  much  needed. — How 
Gold-Mines  are  discovered. — The  Prospecter. — His  Love  of  Adven- 
ture.— His  Dream  of  Gold. — His  Recklessness  of  Life. — How  much 
he  contributes  to  the  Nation,  and  how  poorly  rewarded  himself. — 
Rushing  from  Diggings  to  some  New  Eldorado. — The  Salmon  River 
Stampede. — The  Prospecter's  Dream  of  Home.  .  .  .  314 

LETTER   XXXV. 

The  Melancholy  Days.— The  Tide  of  Progress.— The  Living  Reign  on 
the  Oregon. — "  Old  Baldy." — His  Advent  and  History. — His  Relics 
from  his  Companionship  in  the  Deep. — His  Kind  Admonition  of  the 
Coming  of  the  Storm-King. — He  changes  not  with  the  Advance  of 
Civilization.—"  Lo"  and  his  Bride.— The  Fate  of  the  Red  Man.— 
How  he  became  peaceable. — Another  Visitor. — The  Mountain-Rat. 
— His  original  Social  Qualities. — The  Reign  of  the  Storm-King.  .  326 

LETTER   XXXVI. 

A  Western  Court. — The  Court-Room. — Limited  Powers  of  the  Judge. 
— Freedom  of  the  Lawyers. — Chief-Justice  Hosmer. — A  Specimen 
Case. — The  same  Point  decided  Five  Times,  after  as  many  Legal 
Wrangles. — Disregard  of  Judicial  Decrees. — Sleeping  with  a  Pro- 
fessor.— Interesting  Researches  into  the  Past. — Imaginary  Wander- 
ings over  Montana  Millions  of  years  ago. — Con.  Orem  and  his 
Prize-Fight. — Invited  to  be  a  Referee. — A  Reminiscence  of  the 
Rebellion. — General  Fitz-John  Porter. — Mrs.  Swisshelm  and  Gen- 
eral Grant.— He  will  be  next  President,  if  living.— Future  Visits  to 
Montana.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .332 

LETTER   XXXVII. 

How  Gold  and  Silver  are  produced. — Gulch-  or  Placer-Diggings. — 
How  the  Gulches  are  worked. — Devices  to  save  the  Gold  in  washing 
the  Earth. — How  Miners  make  Laws. — The  Sanctity  of  their  Mining- 
Laws. — Quartz-Mining. — How  Miners  procure  the  Ores. — Shafts, 
Tunnels,  and  Drifts. — Hoisting  by  Windlass,  Whim,  and  Steam. — 
Foul  Air  and  Water. — Selecting  Quartz. — Difference  in  Color  and 
Quality. — Crushing  the  Ores. — Amalgamating  the  Gold  with  Quick- 
silver.— Working  Sulphurets. — Arastras  and  Barrels. — Stamp-Mills 
and  Chilian  Mills.— Silver-Ores.— Smelting  Galena  Silver-Ores.— 
The  Clean-Up.— Amalgam.— The  Brick  of  Gold.  .  .  342 

LETTER   XXXVIII. 

The  Indian  Question. — Failure  of  the  Indian  Campaign. — The  Military 
Expeditions  fruitless. — Fearful  Extent  of  Savagery  on  the  Plains. — 
Five  Thousand  Whites  murdered  in  a  Year. — Official  Libels  upon 
the  People  of  the  West.— The  Military  and  Indian  Agents  the  Gn-at 


14        .  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Obstacles  to  Peace. — No  Peaceable  Indians  on  the  Plains. — What 
Professed  Peaceable  Indians  do. — The  Butchers  of  Fort  Phil.  Kear- 
ney in  Council  with  the  Military. — No  Demand  for  Punishment. — 
The  Crows  and  Blackfeet. — The  Struggle  between  the  Indian  and 
the  White  Man. — How  Civilization  is  arrested  by  the  Savage. — The 
Pioneers  will  advance,  whether  protected  or  not. — How  to  avert 
Extermination. — Abolish  Agencies. — Cease  treating  with  Indians. 
— Choose  Competent  Military  Commanders. — Select  Western  Troops 
to  fight  Hostile  Tribes.  —  Proposed  Surrender  of  the  Bozernan 
Route  a  Crime.— Manifest  Destiny.  .  .  .  .354 

LETTER   XXXIX. 

The  German  Evangeline. — Romantic  Story  of  a  Daughter  of  the 
Rhine. — She  finds  her  Faithful  Lover  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. — 
A  Visit  to  their  Cosy  Cabin. — Union  City  deserted. — Waiting  for 
News  from  the  Prizc-Fight. — Hope  deferred. — The  Donkey  Express 
brings  the  News. — Indignation  of  the  Bearer  of  Dispatches  from 
the  Seat  of  War.— Con.  Orem  defeated  in  the  Mill.— Tim's  Account 
of  the  Bruise. — Business  is  Business  in  Montana. — Advertisements. 
— The  Chinese  in  Montana. — Peonage  among  them. — Their  Women 
mere  Articles  of  Commerce. — The  Chinese  Dead. — All  sent  Home 
for  Final  Burial. — A  Suspicious  Box  received  from  Mormondom. — 
A  Present  of  Delicious  Grapes. — Bruin  visits  Union  City. — A  Fruit- 
less Chase.— A  Plentiful  Winter.  .  .  .  .368 

LETTER  XL. 

Meeting  with  Colonel  Beidler. — His  Appearance  and  Dress. — How  he 
employs  his  Time. — The  Terror  of  Desperadoes  and  Savages. — His 
Complaint  that  Business  is  dull. — Local  Reports  of  his  Doings. — 
The  Montana  Legislature. — The  only  Republican  Member  ejected. 
— Supremacy  of  the  Positive  Rebel  Element  in  Montana. — What  the 
Legislature  will  do.  — Montana  Winters. — The  Storm-King  reigns. 
The  Clouds  a  Protection  to  the  Eyes. — Freezing  insensibly. — The 
Effect  of  Dry,  Cold  Weather.— Health  of  the  Residents.— The 
Mountains  to  become  a  Great  Resort  for  Invalids.  .  .  376 

LETTER   XLI. 

A  Sojourn  at  the  Capital. — Pleasant  Weather. — Con.  Orem  broken 
up  in  Business. — His  Groggery  leased  for  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives.— The  Montana  Senate. — Virginia  City  improving. — Bishop 
Tuttle. — His  Earnest  and  Successful  Efforts  among  the  Western 
People. — Methodism. — The  Energy  of  the  Catholics. — Their  Efforts 
to  educate  the  Children  of  the  Mountains.  —  A  Prize-Fight  and 
Funeral. — Trial  of  Professor  Hodge  for  Murder. — His  Acquittal. — 
Interesting  Entertainment. — Confusion  of  the  Glasses  and  Hats. — 
Belligerent  Attorneys. — How  they  missed  a  Funeral. — Judge  Willis- 
ton. — The  Weather. — The  Pleasant  Autumn. — Social  Amusements 
in  the  Capital. — Everything  ends  in  a  Dance.  .  .  .  384 


CONTENTS.  15 


LETTER  XLII. 

The  Heroes  of  Civilization  in  Montana. — Colonel  Wilbur  F.  Sanders, 
the  Volunteer  Advocate  of  the  People. — His  Defense  of  Order  and 
Signal  Triumph  over  Crime. — The  Trial  and  Execution  of  George 
Ives. — His  Position  at  the  Bar. — Leading  the  Forlorn  Hope  of  Re- 
publicanism.— Colonel  George  L.  Shoup,  the  Hero  of  Sand  Creek. — 
His  History  of  that  Battle. — His  Integrity,  Courage,  and  Benevo- 
lence.—  Colonel  Neil  Howie.  —  His  Capture  of  "Dutch  John." 
— He  commands  the  Montana  Militia. — His  Defense  of  the  Gallatin 
Border. — Restrained  from  Offensive  Movements. —  The  Tides  of 
Fickle  Fortune  in  the  Mountains. — The  Discoverer  of  the  Comstock 
Mine.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .391 

LETTER    XLIII. 

The  Pacific  Railroads.— The  Central  Route.— Its  Impassable  Snows. 
— The  Great  Achievement  of  a  Pacific  Railroad. — The  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  Line.— The  Growth  of  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tories.— A  Continuous  Line  of  Civilization  from  the  Atlantic  to 
Puget  Sound. — Advantage  of  Distance  in  the  Northern  Route. — The 
Western  Terminus  nearer  the  Asiatic  Commercial  Ports  than  San 
Francisco. — It  crosses  the  Great  Rivers  of  the  West. — Advantage  in 
its  Construction. — Climate  on  the  Northern  Route. — Lower  Alti- 
tude.— Succession  of  Hot  Springs. — The  Incalculable  Development 
it  will  inspire.— Changes  in  the  Present  Centres  of  Trade.— The 
Commerce  of  the  World  will  pay  Tribute  to  the  Northern  Railroad.  400 

LETTER  XLIV. 

Amusements  at  the  Capital. — The  Theatre. — Mingling  of  Pleasure 
and  Business. — The  Legislature. — Their  Laws. — Committee  to  ren- 
der the  Laws  intelligible. — How  the  Gordian  Knot  was  cut. — Or- 
ganization of  the  Third  House. — A  Burlesque  Legislature. — The 
Contest  for  Page. — Interesting  Educational  Statistics. — The  Courts. 
— Fines  enforced. — The  Jurors  whittling  on  Duty. — Official  Recep- 
tions.— The  Bachelor  Secretary  draws  Lots  for  a  Fair  Partner. — 
The  Hurdy-Gurdy. — An  Invitation  to  dance. — The  Indian  Ques- 
tion.— The  Delusive  Report  of  Peace. — The  Folly  of  Indian  Trea- 
ties in  the  Fall. — Treaties  made  by  Indians  to  enable  them  to  renew 
Hostilities. — The  West  must  have  Peace. — How  it  is  to  be  attained.  409 

LETTER   XLV. 

Holiday  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  —  A  Genial  Christmas-Day. — 
Sumptuous  Dinners  and  a  Jolly  Dance. — The  Ball. — New-Year's 
Day.— A  Field-Day  of  Frolic.— The  First  Call.— The  Egg-nog  ana- 
lyzed.—Hospitality  of  the  Capital.— The  Babies.— A  Prize-Fight 
in  the  House  of  Representatives. — "Teddy"  and  "Chick"  have  ;i 
"Mill." — Con.  Orem  seconds  Teddy,  and  wins,  after  a  Protracted 
Contest. — A  Row  in  the  Ring. — "  Teddy"  the  Hero  of  the  Theatre 
and  the  "  Pony."— The  Evening  Supper.— The  Professor's  Speech.  418 


16  CONTENTS. 


LETTER   XLVI. 

Homeward  bound. — The  Mountain  Cold  Snap. — Preparations  to  brave 
Winter  on  the  Rocky  Range.— A  Jolly  Stage- Coach  Party.— Rattle- 
snake Cliffs. — The  Foot  of  the  Rocky  Range. — Crossing  the  Range. 
— Many  Drivers  and  Stable-Men  frost-bitten. — Arrival  at  Pleasant 
Valley.— The  Temperature  Forty  Degrees  below  Zero.— The  Land- 
lady of  the  Station. — A  Fresh  Morning  Ride. — Several  Upsets  in 
the  Snow. — Snake  River  Valley. — A  more  Moderate  Temperature. 
— Malade. — The  Josephite  Mormons. — Arrival  at  Bear  River.  .  427 

LETTER  XLVII. 

An  Early  Start  from  Bear  River.— The  Great  Salt  Lake.— Character 
of  its  Tributaries  and  its  Waters. — Dinner  at  Ogden. — Arrival  at 
Salt  Lake  City.— The  Townsend  House.— The  Landlord  and  his 
Three  Wives. — Kindness  and  Hospitality  of  the  Mormons. — Mor- 
mon Drinking-Houses,  Billiard-Rooms,  and  Currency. — The  Law 
against  Polygamy  practically  a  Dead  Letter. —  Solution  of  the 
Vexed  Problem.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .437 

LETTER  XLVIII. 

Leaving  Salt  Lake. — Crossing  the  Rocky  Range  again. — The  Winter 
Trip  more  pleasant  than  the  Summer  Trip. — Weber  Canon  and  Weber 
River.  —  Echo  Canon.  —  A  Night  Upset.  —  No  Damage  done.  —  A 
Snow-Storm. — The  Road  lost. — Above  the  Clouds  on  the  Range. — 
Starlight  above,  and  a  Snow-Storm  below. — The  Professor's  Speech. 
— Bear  River. — Crossing  Quaking  Asp  Divide. — Bridger  Valley. — 
Fort  Bridger. — •Hank  Conner. — A  Gay  Night-Drive  through  the 
Mountain-Cliffs. —  A  Wild  Team,  and  our  Experience  with  it. — 
Green  River. — Bitter  Creek. — A  Baby  Passenger. — The  Whistle  of 
the  Locomotive  again. — End  of  a  Journey  of  Three  Thousand  Miles 
through  the  Rocky  Mountains.  .....  444 

APPENDIX.  ........  453 


THREE  THOUSAND  MILES 

THROUGH   THE 

ROCKY    MOUNTAINS. 


LETTER   I. 

From  Chambersburg  to  Pittsburg. — Parting  with  Old  Friends. — 
The  Juniata  Valley. — Crossing  the  Alleghanies. — The  Progress 
of  a  Quarter  of  a  Century. — A  Day  in  Pittsburg. 

PITTSBURG,  May  1,  1867. 

A  TRUCE  with  politics  and  law  for  a  season.  I  have 
long  wished  to  sec  the  Great  West,  to  gaze  upon  its  virgin 
beauties,  learn  its  gigantic  progress,  and  mingle  with  the 
sturdy  pioneers  who  are  laying  the  foundations  for  future 
empires.  All  intelligent  people  have  read  of  them,  and 
read  of  them  more  now  than  ever  before ;  but  to  see  them 
as  they  are,  to  mess  with  them,  shelter  with  them,  travel 
with  them,  and  share  their  life  as  it  really  is,  has  long 
been  a  strong  desire  with  me;  and,  if  blessed  with  health 
and  safely  in  travel,  I  shall  devote  the  summer  to -the  study 
of  this  great  lesson  with  nature  and  nature's  first  help- 
mates themselves. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  turned  regretfully  from  the  beauti- 
ful Valley  of  the  Cumberland,  with  its  hcartsome  homes, 
its  fields  green  with  the  promise  of  future  plenty,  and  its 
people  congenial  and  kind.  Many  parted  with  me  with 
emotions  I  shall  not  soon  forget,  and  the  sadness  of  ex 

3  (H) 


18  PARTING    WITH  OLD  FRIENDS. 

changing  the  comforts  of  home  and  the  blessings  of  friends 
for  a  long  and  perilous  journey  was  brightened  by  the 
many  earnest  aspirations  given  for  a  pleasant  trip  and  a 
safe  return.  Many  greatly  magnified  the  dangers  of  the 
tour,  and  seemed  painfully  impressed  that  it  was  but  an 
invitation  to  danger  or  death;  but,  while  no  such  journey 
can  be  free  from  peril,  we  have  the  promise  of  peace  on 
the  Plains  this  season,  especially  on  the  great  overland 
route.  Still,  it  is  exposed  to  perils  not  known  in  the 
boundaries  of  civilization,  and  they  are,  therefore,  ever 
present  in  the  recollections  of  friends,  and  give  rise  to  fears 
for  the  safety  of  friends  who  thus  journey.  Let  us  all  be 
mindful  that  "there  is  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
rough-hew  them  as  we  will,"  and  that  even  the  perils  of 
the  wilderness  and  of  the  deep  are  controlled  by  Him  who 
numbers  the  very  hairs  of  our  heads.  I  fondly  hope  to 
return  again  renewed  in  vigor  myself,  and  with  renewed 
health  for  those  I  most  love ;  but,  if  it  cannot  thus  be,  I 
trust  that  there  will  be  a  few,  at  least,  who  will  not  leave 
me  unlamented,  and  who  will  feel  that  I  have  not  lived 
entirely  in  vain.  If  I  shall  merit  such  a  tribute  from  the 
lowly  and  the  children  of  sorrow,  some  measure  of  my  aim 
in  life  will  have  been  fulfilled. 

But  enough  of  sad  forebodings.  They  belong  not  to  the 
hopeful,  the  earnest,  the  useful.  They  will  in  a  time,  brief 
enough  at  best,  present  their  reality,  as  all  in  turn  accept 
the  inevitable  doom ;  but  till  then  life  has  its  duties,  its 
sufferings,  its  pleasures,  and  each  should  be  welcomed  or 
borne  with  the  fortitude  of  manhood. 

I  never  saw  the  Cumberland  Valley  more  beautiful 
than  when  I  passed  through  it  on  Monday  last.  It  seems 
the  home  of  contentment,  of  plenty,  and  of  all  that  should 
make  man  better  from  year  to  year.  And  after  we  turned 
our  way  toward  the  setting  sun  from  Harrisburg,  winding- 


PROGRESS   OF  A    QUARTER   OF  A    CENTURY.      19 

along  the  beautiful  Juniata,  there  were  on  every  hand  the 
same  evidences  of  thrift,  of  order,  and  of  happiness.  Now 
and  then  we  would  find  our  wild  mountains  towering 
over  us ;  but  soon  again  the  beautiful  fields  and  the  blos- 
soms of  spring  would  break  upon  the  view.  Thus  follow- 
ing the  sinuosities  of  the  river,  still  growing  smaller  and 
smaller  as  we  approach  its  source  in  the  Alleghanies,  we 
had  alternate  wilds  and  blooming  fields  until  we  landed  at 
the  very  foot  of  the  mountain  at  Altoona.  Wishing  to  be- 
come used  to  our  journey  by  degrees,  we  stopped  for  the 
night,  and  took  the  morning  for  crossing  the  famed  Allegha- 
nies. Less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  it  was  deemed 
impossible  to  cross  these  great  barriers  to  trade,  except 
by  inclined  planes,  at  great  cost  and  peril.  Slowly  the 
weary  passenger  would  be  dragged  from  level  to  level  by 
stationary  engines  and  powerful  wire  ropes,  and  hundreds 
of  lives  have  been  lost  in  passing  them.  Now  the  iron 
horse  may  be  heard  ploughing  through  the  gorges  and 
climbing  these  steep  declivities,  from  the  far  North  down 
to  Tennessee.  On  the  North  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie 
winds  through  the  great  wilderness  of  our  State,  bringing 
its  vast  wealth  to  the  lap  of  commerce.  Here  the  sound 
of  the  locomotive  is  ever  heard,  bringing  its  untold  meas- 
ure of  trade  and  travel  to  and  from  the  coast.  In  Vir- 
ginia the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  spans  the  mountains  again; 
and  still  farther  South  the  Virginia  Central  (I  believe  it 
is)  finds  its  way  through  and  over  them  to  Knoxville,  and 
thence  to  the  Gulf.  Thus  in  the  matchless  progress  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  have  the  great  mountains  of  the  East 
been  leveled,  as  it  were,  by  the  handiwork  of  man,  and 
have  ceased  to  retard  the  whirl  of  commerce  or  the  stream 
of  travel  as  we  swarm  westward  to  fix  new  stars  of  the 
<ralaxy  of  the  States  of  the  Republic. 

It  is  worth  a  week  of  delay  for  any  tourist  to  cross  the 


20  CROSSING   THE  ALLEGIIANTES. 

Alloghanies  by  daylight.  I  have  passed  them  often,  but 
each  time  I  gaze  on  their  bewildering  beauties  more  in- 
tently than  before.  A  span  of  iron  horses  stood  hitched  to 
our  "train,  as  the  crowd  filed  out  from  breakfast  to  nestle 
down  comfortably  again  in  the  scats.  They  stood  there, 
quietly  humming  their  voluntary,  as  if  to  denote  that  all 
was  in  readiness.  At  the  signal  from  the  conductor,  they 
belch  forth  their  black  column  of  smoke,  hiss  off  their 
steam,  and,  after  a  short,  shrill,  double  scream,  move  off 
with  their  immense  load  with  a  majesty  that  is  sublime. 
Slowly,  but  steadily,  they  climb  the  steep  grade,  wind 
around  the  famous  horseshoe,  pass  on  up  the  mountain- 
side so  high  that  the  dwellings  below  are  scarcely  per- 
ceptible, and  finally  plunge  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
nearly  three  hundred  feet  from  the  surface,  and  for  seven- 
eighths  of  a  mile  there  is  total  darkness,  save  as  an  occa- 
sional column  of  smoke  brings  with  it  a  shadow  of  dull 
light  to  break  the  gloom  about  you.  Soon  again  the  train 
emerges,  on  the  western  side,  and  the  great  Alleghanies 
have  been  ascended  so  gradually  and  so  quickly  that  those 
who  had  not  been  attracted  by  the  scenery  would  be  igno- 
rant of  the  exploit.  Thence  the  descent  is  made  at  a  high 
rate  of  speed,  following  the  windings  of  the  Conemaugh, 
which  starts  in  a  little  spring  on  the  mountain-top,  and 
courses  its  way  to  the  Gulf.  From  the  mountains  to  Pitts- 
burg  there  is  everything  to  remind  the  Pennsylvania!!  that 
he  is  still  in  Pennsylvania.  The  same  thrifty  agriculture 
and  slow  but  steady  progress  are  observable  everywhere, 
until  the  dark  cloud  of  smoke  that  begins  to  search  its  way 
into  the  cars  reminds  us  that  we  are  about  to  enter  Pitts- 
burg. 

I  have  spent  a  day  here  most  pleasantly,  devoting  my 
spare  time  mainly  to  friendly  chats  with  the  editorial 
brethren.  I  found  Brigham,  of  the  "  Commercial,"  full  of 


A    DAY  IN  PITTS  BURG.  21 

energy,  and  hopeful  of  everything  —  of  politics,  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  "Commercial."  I  was  pained  to  find 
Foster,  of  the  "Dispatch,"  an  invalid.  He  is  about  to 
start  for  France  and  the  Holy  Land,  with  the  hope  of 
saving  for  a  time  the  only  lung  he  has  left,  May  he  have 
many  years  yet  in  store  for  him  !  Caldwell,  of  the  "  Com- 
mercial," long  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "  RE- 
POSITORY," I  fear  has  cut  his  local  reports  short  for  to- 
morrow by  his  kind  attentions  to  me,  and  as  I  write  at  one 
of  the  "Commercial"  editorial  desks,  Brigham  emerges 
now  and  then  from  his  pile  of  exchanges  in  the  adjoining 
sanctum,  to  talk  a  little  more  of  politics.  At  two  I  leave 
for  Chicago,  and,  as  the  clock  points  to  one,  I  must  send 
this  just  as  it  is,  without  even  attempting  to  read  it,  much 
less  correct  it. 


3* 


LETTER    II. 

Pittsburg  to  Chicago. — Farewell  to  the  Pennsylvania  Mountains. 
—The  Progress  of  the  West.— Western  Boys.— A  Delightful 
Sleeping-Car. — The  Conventionalities  of  Society  on  Sleeping- 
Cars. — An  Early  Breakfast. — A  Locomotive  Race. — Excitement 
of  the  Passengers. — Westward  Travel  stopped  by  the  Floods. 

CHICAGO,  May  3,  1867. 

WE  left  Pittsburg  by  the  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Road 
at  three  P.M.  yesterday,  and  arrived  at  this  place  at  eleven 
this  morning.  It  is  a  pleasant  journey.  The  cars  are 
elegant,  the  road  mostly  straight  and  in  good  order,  and 
the  sleeping-cars  are  called  "palace  cars"  with  some  war- 
rant for  the  high-sounding  title.  I  took  a  farewell  of  our 
noble  Pennsylvania  mountains  as  we  were  whirled  into 
the  Buckeye  State.  They  have  no  fellows  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  as  we  passed  westward  the  level  plains 
became  painfully  monotonous.  In  Pennsylvania  and  East- 
ern Ohio  vegetation  was  pretty  well  advanced ;  the 
cherries,  peaches,  and  pears  were  in  blossom,  and  the 
apple  was  thrusting  out  its  leaves,  soon  to  be  followed  by 
the  beautiful  harbinger  of  its  valued  fruit;  but  as  we  ap- 
proached Indiana  the  country  seemed  to  be  frost-bound, 
and  the  farther  we  got  west  the  more  dreary  and  winter- 
like  the  fields  and  vegetation  looked.  Ohio  looks  cosy, 
despite  its  want  of  mighty  mountains.  It  has  majestic 
forests — too  much  so,  often,  for  the  comfort  of  the  husband- 
man— and  her  fields  have  an  old-fashioned  Pennsylvania 
look  that  makes  rue  feel  quite  at  home  among  them.  But, 
as  we  shorten  the  distance  between  us  and  the  Missis- 
(22) 


WESTERN  BOYS.  23 

sippi,  the  fields  and  houses  become  more  and  more  strange, 
until  the  steady  old-time  ways  of  the  East  are  entirely 
lost  sight  of.  They  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  progress  out 
here  just  as  we  do  it  East.  They  are  restless,  impatient, 
and  original.  If  they  need  a  house,  they  build  it  at  once ; 
put  up  a  place  to  cook,  eat,  and  sleep  in  first,  and  finish  it  off 
afterward.  A  Pennsylvanian  must  plan  and  think;  then 
he  must  prepare ;  then  he  must  dig,  and  lay  the  founda- 
tion ;  then  he  erects  the  walls,  the  roofs,  and  finally  finishes 
it  for  a  residence.  While  he  is  thinking  and  planning,  the 
Buckeye  or  the  Hoosier  or  the  Sucker  will  move  into  his 
new  house.  True,  it  will  have  no  cellar,  no  foundation  but 
four  blocks,  perhaps  but  partly  weathcrboarded,  but  he 
has  a  house,  and  he  finishes  it  when  and  how  it  suits  him ; 
so  with  his  fences,  his  out-buildings,  his  everything.  Even 
the  children  out  this  way  look  older  for  their  ages  than  do 
ours,  and  would  seem  to  be  born  much  after  the  general 
Western  style  of  go-ahcad-ativeness.  They  seem  to  be 
born  frequently  in  most  families,  and  I  should  judge,  from 
their  independence  of  manner,  that  they  don't  consume  any 
great  quantity  of  Winslow's  Soothing  Syrup,  and  that 
they  don't  average  above  one  occasional  nurse  to  a  house- 
hold. They  climb  up  the  bumpers  of  the  cars,  crawl  under 
the  locomotive  at  the  stations,  look  in  at  the  doors,  and  fre- 
quently strut  through  the  cars  as  if  they  owned  the  train 
and  were  prepared  to  make  a  respectable  bid  for  the  pas- 
sengers. A  man  needs  to  pass  through  the  West  but  once 
to  understand  that  those  who  talk  about  a  hundred  millions 
of  population  in  this  country  in  less  than  half  a  century, 
are  not  very  wild  arithmeticians  after  all. 

We  had  a  delightful  sleeping-car,  as  I  have  stated,  and 
I  passed  the  night  in  comparative  comfort.  I  never  could 
get  a  good  refreshing  sleep  in  a  car,  and  never  hope  to  do 
so.  But,  whether  sleep  can  be  wooed  successfully  or  not 
i'n  them,  they  are  a  great  institution,  and  a  luxury  1<>  the 


24  A   DELIGHTFUL   SLEEPING-CAR. 

traveler.  A  sleeping-car  always  makes  a  jolly,  family-like 
company,  and  there  is  nothing  that  destroys  the  convention- 
alities of  society  so  speedily  and  so  thoroughly,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  getting  acquainted,  as  "turning  in"  on  board  of  one 
of  these  wandering  lodging-houses.  When  we  start  out, 
all  or  most  of  the  company  strangers  to  each  other,  all,  of 
course,  observe  due  dignity,  and  allow  acquaintance  to  win 
its  way  by  gradual  approaches.  Now  and  then  a  rollick- 
ing baby  will  force  a  smile  from  some  sympathetic  mother 
distant  from  her  loved  ones,  and  the  mothers  at  once  be- 
come friends,  relate  their  travels,  discuss  their  homes, 
husbands,  babies,  houses,  pullets,  and  poodles,  and  share 
their  lunch-baskets.  A  wayward  boy,  or  a  lovely  girl 
with  sunbeams  dancing  on  her  face  as  if  playing  upon  a 
rippling  stream,  will  insensibly  break  the  reticence  of  the 
bachelor,  gather  the  spare  candies,  nuts,  and  cakes  from 
the  pockets  of  the  fathers,  and  end  the  campaign  by  a 
friendly  chat  between  the  old  folks.  One  little,  blue-eyed, 
taffy-curled  girl  emptied  my  pockets  of  the  debris  of  my 
last  campaign  among  the  children  of  Alleghany,  and  made 
me  a  willing  purchaser  of  all  the  jim-cracks  the  train 
vender  had  to  tickle  the  fancy  or  palate  of  these  miniature 
editions  of  ourselves.  Of  course  the  mother  was  appre- 
ciative, and  a  pleasant  acquisition  was  added  to  our  party, 
to  last  till  we  reached  the  Plains.  Thus  do  the  genial  and 
the  obdurate  alike  surrender  to  railroad  acquaintances  in  a 
sleeping-car,  and,  when  night  comes,  we  all  seem  much  as 
one  family,  mutually  sympathetic  and  generous.  A  woman 
may  even  crimp  her  hair  before  the  bachelor  without  pro- 
voking a  surly  remark,  and  prodigious  waterfalls,  and  hoops, 
and  ribbons,  and  the  thousand  other  things  which  pertain 
to  female  adornment  may  be  scattered  in  wild  profusion 
around  the  car,  swinging  from  hooks,  and  impeding  loco- 
motion by  side  blockades;  but  all  is  taken  in  good  part,  and 
there  is  peace  and  good  will  in  tho  great  family  thus  im- 


AN  EARLY  BREAKFAST.  25 

provised  upon  a  few  hours'  acquaintance.  Occasionally  a 
coy  damsel  or  a  veteran  spinster  seems  to  rebel  against  the 
free-and-easy  manners  of  the  sleeping-car ;  but  they  merely 
make  themselves  uncomfortable,  and  are  sure  to  provoke 
just  that  notice  and  comment  they  least  want.  I  pity  a 
fastidious  old  maid  in  a  sleeping-car.  She  always  keeps 
watching  everybody  else  with  such  palpable  suspicion  that 
she  compels  everybody  else  to  watch  her,  and  her  most 
studied  efforts  to  protect  herself  from  profane  eyes  and 
speech  make  a  score  of  eyes  peer  in  upon  her  from  behind 
curtains  and  by  side  glances,  while  the  lady  who  accepts 
the  situation  goes  free.  If  a  mishap  falls  to  the  lot  of  any 
in  a  sleeping-car,  it  invariably  falls  to  the  one  who  tries 
most  spasmodically  to  avert  it,  and  there  are  few  who  do 
not  enjoy  it  when  the  moment  of  confusion  comes.  When 
people  do  their  best,  they  cannot  secure  the  privacy  that 
most  persons  would  prefer ;  but  when  all  agree  to  do  the 
best  they  can,  the  great  mantle  of  charity  hides  what  the 
more  tangible  fabrics  fail  to  protect  from  the  gaze  of  the 
curious  or  rude.  We  were  waked  at  half-past  four,  with 
notice  that  we  must  be  ready  for  breakfast  at  five  precisely; 
and  I  need  not  say  that  at  that  unromantic  hour  the  Greek 
Slave  might  have  been  personated  in  any  of  the  berths 
without  arresting  the  heavy  yawns  which  mingled  with 
the  hurried  preparations  for  breakfast. 

When  within  about  twenty  miles  of  Chicago,  the  mo- 
notony of  the  low,  marshy,  ill-improved  prairie  of  this 
section  was  broken  by  a  regular  locomotive  race.  The 
Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago,  and  the  Michigan 
Southern,  come  together  on  the  same  time,  and  for  twelve 
miles  the  two  roads  are  rarely  over  one  hundred  feet  apart. 
The  country  is  perfectly  level,  the  roads  straight,  and  there 
is  every  incentive  to  a  trial  of  speed.  It  seems  that  they 
have _a  daily  race,  and  it  is  neck  and  neck  between  them. 
Whichever  train  happens  to  have  the  best  locomotive  or 


26  A   LOCOMOTIVE  RACE. 

the  lightest  train,  usually  wins.  We  had  ten  cars  and  the 
Michigan  Southern  but  seven,  so  the  odds  were  against 
us ;  but  our  engineer,  brakesmen,  firemen,  porters,  news- 
venders,  baggage-masters,  conductors,  all  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  the  race  with  boundless  enthusiasm,  and  I  need 
not  say  that  most  of  the  passengers  watched  with  intense 
interest  the  issue  of  the  struggle.  The  baggage-master  of 
the  Michigan  Southern  was  first  seen  standing  on  the  low- 
est step  of  his  car,  with  a  roll  of  bank-notes  in  his  hand, 
trying  to  make  himself  understood  by  pantomime,  in  the 
midst  of  the  thunder  of  two  large  trains  flying  at  their 
utmost  speed,  that  he  would  bet  either  his  cash  or  drinks 
on  his  train.  I  could  not  see  whether  his  banter  was  ac- 
cepted or  not,  but,  if  it  was,  he  must  have  been  winner,  for  we 
were  distanced  the  length  of  our  train  in  the  race.  Both 
trains  stopped  at  several  stations  during  the  run,  but  both 
always  stopped  at  the  same  place,  and  it  was  ludicrous  to 
see  how  old  women,  and  their  bundles  and  baskets,  were 
hustled  in  and  out  of  both  trains  to  prevent  unnecessary 
delay.  One  old  man  on  our  train  wanted  to  get  off,  but  he 
had  one  question  too  many  to  ask  the  conductor,  and  he 
was  sent  whirling  along  to  the  next  station,  in  spite  of  his 
violent  gesticulations.  At  last  the  iron  horses  divided  in 
their  course  as  they  entered  Chicago,  and  both  seemed  to 
forget  the  friendly  strife,  as  their  shrill  song  told  us  that 
our  journey  was  ended. 

I  would  like  to  write  about  Chicago,  but  I  cannot.  It 
seems  to  be  a  second  New  York.  Although  it  has  but 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  population,  its  main  streets 
rival  Broadway  in  magnificence  and  life,  while  its  beautiful 
Wabash  and  Michigan  Avenues  tell  the  story  of  its  wealth 
in  social  life.  The  train  leaves  at  8.15  this  morning  for 
Omaha,  and  I  must  hasten  away.  I  hope  to  be  there  by 
Saturday  noon,  as  the  road,  recently  torn  up  by  the  floods, 
is  again  in  running  order. 


LETTER    III. 

Chicago  to  Omaha. — Chicago  a  Fast  City. — Getting  News  in  the 
West. — The  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Kailroad. — Its  Hasty 
and  Imperfect  Construction. — The  Missouri  Flood. — Western 
Iowa.  —  "Square  Meals."  —  Western  Luxuries. — A  Wreck. — 
Delay  and  Scarcity  of  Provisions. — Lunch-baskets. — A  Forag- 
ing Party.  —  Indifferent  Success. — "All  Eight  again." — An- 
other Stop  at  Honey  brook.  —  Another  Hunt  for  Eations. — 
Dealing  with  a  Western  Dame  for  Milk  and  Bread. — Swindled 
by  Biddy. — Council  Bluffs. — An  Unpleasant  Night  in  the  Cars. 
—  Trouble  in  crossing  the  Missouri  Eiver. — The  People  of 
Omaha. 

OMAHA,  May  6,  1867. 

I  HAD  a  pretty  fair  inside  view  of  Chicago.  I  got  there 
in  the  midst  of  the  great  riot  on  Thursday  last,  and  left  it 
the  next  morning  in  the  midst  of  a  grand  fire.  It  is  a  fast 
place — fast  in  a  fight,  fast  in  a  fire,  fast  in  business,  and 
fast  generally.  They  do  up  a  riot  in  the  most  improved 
style,  and  can  make  more  noise  at  a  fire  twice  over  than 
Philadelphia.  -The  laboring-men  got  up  a  flurry  over  the 
inauguration  of  the  eight-hour  law  on  the  1st  instant,  and 
had,  as  was  appropriate  and  commendable,  speeches  from 
politicians  and  dignitaries,  and  processions  with  banners, 
etc.  But  they  committed  the  fatal  error  of  supposing  that, 
because  no  man  could  compel  them  to  work  more  than 
eight  hours  per  day,  they  could  compel  every  fellow-laborer 
to  work  just  that  number  and  no  more.  It  was  on  this  dif- 
ference that  they  threw  Chicago  into  disorder  and  did 
themselves  the  dishonor  of  attempting  anarchy. 

As  I  left  Chicago,  I  left  all  news  behind.     By  making  • 

(27) 


28  GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE    WEST. 

several  efforts  along  the  railroad  at  the  telegraph-stations, 
I  managed  to  learn  the  result  of  the  fire  that  was  raging 
when  I  took  the  train;  but  as  for  keeping  posted  in  the 
events  of  the  day,  beyond  this  single  fact,  I  might  as  well 
have  been  in  China  ever  since.  As  yet  there  are  no  papers 
here  later  than  New  York  of  the  29th  ultimo,  and  Chicago 
of  the  1st.  There  are  daily  papers  published  in  most  of 
the  Western  towns  of  any  size;  but  they  afford  but  a 
meagre  outline  of  the  events  of  the  world  which  we  are 
used  to  enjoy  so  fully  in  the  East  with  our  breakfast  or 
tea.  I  judge  that  as  I  go  westward  I  shall  learn  to  dis- 
pense pretty  much  with  general  news;  but  the  force  of 
habit  will  make  me  break  in  upon  far-western  rules  on  this 
point  as  often  as  a  newspaper  or  a  telegraphic  operator  can 
be  captured. 

We  had  rather  a  variable  time  from  Chicago  to  this 
place,  and,  upon  the  whole,  quite  a  jolly  trip.  As  varia- 
tions are  the  spice  of  travel,  I  do  not  regret  that  we  took 
the  widest  latitude  in  reaching  and  crossing  the  Missouri. 
At  Chicago  we  were  assured  that  the  train  would  go 
through  on  time  to  the  Missouri ;  but,  if  the  princes  of  old, 
against  whom  the  world  was  cautioned,  were  less  to  be 
trusted  than  railroad  managers  out  West,  those  who  had 
to  deal  with  the  princes  should  not  have  needed  the  Divine 
injunction.  From  Chicago  to  this  point  it  is  four  hundred 
and  ninety-four  miles  by  rail,  and  the  line  runs  almost 
directly  west,  thus  bringing  trade  and  travel  to  the  plains 
hy  the  shortest  route.  Until  last  winter,  the  emigrant  and 
sojourner  for  the  mountains  reached  the  Missouri  at  some 
point  hclo\v  this,  and  generally  left  Omaha  out  of  their, 
programme  ;  Ikit  the  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific  l\ail- 
road  for  two  hundred  and  ninety  miles  west  of  this  place, 
last  fall,  necessitated  the  hasty  construction  of  the  connect- 
ing link  between  this  and  the  Mississippi  at  Fulton,  so  as 


CHICAGO  AND  NORTHWESTERN  RAILROAD.        29 

to  open  an  unbroken  and  direct  railroad  line  from  the 
Atlantic  to  Platte  City,  the  point  to  which  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road is  now  run.  The  result  was  that  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  road  was  forced  through  last  fall  in  the 
most  imperfect  manner.  It  was  flung  down  on  the  prairie 
at  the  rate  of  two  miles  per  day,  and,  while  the  bed  re- 
mained frozen,  it  did  tolerably  well;  but,  when  the  thaw 
and  spring  floods  came,  it  imitated  the  Dutchman's  milk 
in  lying  around  loose  generally.  The  flood  of  the  Missouri 
this  spring  was  more  extensive  than  usual,  requiring,  it  is 
said,  the  oldest  inhabitant  to  remember  its  counterpart.  It 
put  a  score  or  more  miles  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwest- 
ern road  completely  under  water,  and  floated  it  about,  with 
its  occasional  rude  embankments  and  improvised  culverts, 
as  if  it  was  but  a  plaything  for  the  Western  elements.  As 
the  tide  of  spring  travel  had  set  in  for  the  plains — ten  times 
greater  than  ever  before — the  management  could  not  afford 
to  wait  to  repair  the  road  and  have  trade  seek  a  southern 
line  to  St.  Joseph  or  St.  Louis.  Accordingly,  it  was  an- 
nounced officially,  a  week  ago,  that  the  road  was  repaired, 
while  miles  of  the  track  were  still  frolicking  with  the  frogs 
and  other  occupants  of  the  ponds  and  lakes  of  the  prairies. 
Although  still  doubting,  I  ventured  to  try  the  road  on 
Friday,  just  four  days  after  it  was  pronounced  to  be  thor- 
oughly repaired,  hoping  that  we  might  do  rather  better 
over  it  than  to  strike  St.  Joseph  and  have  to  stem  the 
boisterous  tide  of  the  Missouri  to  this  point.  It  is  well 
that  I  had  some  doubts, — sufficient  at  least  to  distrust  the 
regular  railroad  eating-stations  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 
hunger.  1  had  a  bountiful  lu#ch  put  up  in  Chicago,  to 
guard  against  accidents  in  the  way  of  "square  meals;" 
and  but  for  that  precaution  we  must  have  had  a  pro- 
tracted fast.  All  went  well  until  we  got  to  Dennison  on 
Saturday  morning,  where  we  hud  our  last  regular  meal 

4 


30  "SQUARE  MEALS." 

during  the  journey,  leaving  us  a  period  of  thirty-six  hours 
without  any  food  but  what  we  had  with  us  and  what  we 
foraged  from  the  scant  larders  of  the  pioneers.  Be  it  re- 
membered that  Western  Iowa — at  least  along  the  line  of 
the  railroad — has  scores  of  miles  at  times  without  the  sign 
of  an  inhabitant.  Often  during  the  tedious  journey  over 
the  monotonous  prairies,  broken  occasionally  only  by  bleak 
sandhills,  I  looked  in  vain  in  every  direction  for  a  house 
or  a  field.  It  has  no  timber,  is  but  poorly  watered,  and 
until  now  has  presented  no  inducement  to  the  husband- 
man to  break  up  its  fertile  soil.  The  transition  from  the 
luxurious  tables  of  the  East  to  the  "square  meal3"  of  the 
West  is,  fortunately,  gradual,  and  by  the  time  the  traveler 
reaches  Omaha  he  is  prepared  for  "hog  and  hominy,"  or 
whatever  may  be  presented.  The  last  cooking  I  found  fit 
for  a  table  was  in  Chicago.  As  wTe  got  out  into  Iowa, 
the  Western  style  grew  more  and  more  original,  until  a 
break  in  the  road  brought  us  right  into  genuine  pioneer 
living.  Our  last  meal  was  at  Dennison,  Iowa,  where  we 
had  the  inevitable  bacon  and  eggs,  with  hot,  heavy,  greasy 
biscuits,  made  apparently  with  flour,  corn-meal,  hog's  fat, 
saleratus  and  water,  and  served  up  smoking  hot.  JThis  is 
the  favorite  bread  of  the  Far  West.  They  usually  have  it 
at  every  meal — always  hot,  and  their  children  begin  on  it 
before  they  have  teeth  to  masticate  it.  But  it  seems  that 
travelers  in  the  West,  however  fastidious  about  their  diet 
at  home,  are  able  to  accommodate  themselves  to  a  diet 
here  that  would  require  the  force  of  medical  attendants  to 
be  doubled  if  used  in  the  East.  The  active  life,  pure  air, 
and  the  magic  effect  of  change  of  scenery,  habits,  exercise, 
association,  etc.  fit  most  persons  for  living  in  Western  style 
with  comparative  comfort. 

When  within  fifty  miles   of  Council   Bluffs,  we   were 
stopped  by  the  wreck  of  a  mixed  burden  and  passenger 


A    WESTERN  RAILROAD.  31 

train,  that  was  piled  up  on  and  all  about  the  track.  But 
two  miserable  shanties  were  in  sight  in  a  circle  of  twenty 
miles,  and  scarcely  a  shrub  was  visible.  It  was  eight 
miles  to  the  nearest  station,  and  fifty  miles  to  the  nearest 
point  from  which  the  necessary  machinery  could  be  had  to 
clear  the  wreck.  It  was  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  the  cold,  sharp  wind  was  sweeping  a  hurricane  over 
the  prairie.  The  passengers  got  out,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
repeated  assurances  of  the  conductor  that  we  should  "get 
right  along  shortly,"  it  was  clear  to  all  that  we  were  in 
for  the  most  of  the  day.  I  walked  along  the  track  for  half 
a  mile,  to  take  a  look  at  a  Western  railroad,  and  I  think  it 
well  that  my  inspection  of  the  road  did  not  occur  until  I 
was  over  most  of  it.  I  think  I  would  have  walked  in 
preference  to  spending  two  nights  on  such  a  road.  The 
bed  was  made  by  throwing  up  an  embankment  some  three 
or  six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  prairie,  of  the  soft  loam 
dug  up  alongside  of  the  track.  Light,  indifferent  ties  were 
then  thrown  upon  it,  the  rails  spiked  down,  and  the  space 
between  the  ties  was  not  even  filled  up  with  dirt.  The 
hard  freeze  of  the  winter  kept  the  road  in  fair  order  until 
recently ;  but  now  the  track  seems  as  if  laid  on  a  bed  of 
hard  dough.  In  walking  over  it  the  ties  would  sink  down 
in  the  earth  from  my  weight,  and  a  glance  along  the  rails 
showed  that  it  had  settled  irregularly,  crooked,  and  dis- 
jointed, and  in  places  seemed  to  have  slid  bodily  to  one 
side  or  the  other.  There  was  no  help,  however,  then  but 
to  go  over  it,  and  as  it  was  just  as  bad  to  go  back  as  to  go 
forward,  and  the  shortest  part  of  the  road  was  ahead,  I 
had  no  choice  but  to  wait  ratiently  and  philosophically 
for  the  end  of  the  journey. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  question  of  provisions  became  a 
serious  one.  Our  party  had  a  clever-sized  lunch-bn>kr( 
filled;  but  there  were  thirty  others  in  the  car,  some  of 


32  A   FORAGING  PARTY. 

them  women  and  children,  who  had  no  supplies.  Misfor- 
tune soon  breaks  down  all  reserve,  and  the  provisions  on 
hand  were  divided  around  as  if  we  were  all  of  one  family. 
How  quickly  a  lunch-basket  in  a  hungry  crowd  makes  every- 
body sociable  !  First,  all  the  children  of  the  car  will  gather 
around  it,  in  spite  of  the  threats  and  frowns  of  tender 
mammas,  and  through  them  the  way  is  easy  to  an  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  all.  But  our  supplies  were  insuf- 
ficent  for  the  party,  and  we  improvised  a  foraging  corps. 
There  were  but  two  shanties  within  sight,  and  they  were 
most  unpromising  for  a  successful  foray  in  the  provision 
line;  but  they  were  the  only  possible  points  of  attack,  and 
we  charged  on  them.  One  of  them  was  entirely  out.  They 
had  no  eggs,  no  meat,  no  bread,  no  milk,  no  butter — in  fact, 
nothing.  The  other  had  a  few  hard  fat  biscuits  and  some 
cold  bacon,  which  were  purchased  at  a  price  that  would 
have  made  the  Continental  cashier  blush.  It  was  but 
little  we  got,  but  that  little  was  somewhat  like  the  widow's 
cruse — it  went  a  great  way  and  lasted  well.  I  made  a 
satisfactory  dinner  on  half  a  biscuit  and  a  small  cut  of 
bacon.  After  nearly  ten  hours'  delay,  the  welcome  sound 
of  the  locomotive  whistle  was  heard,  and  "  all  right"  was 
called  by  the  conductor.  As  most  of  the  road  had  been 
submerged  between  that  point  and  the  river,  and  part  of  it 
swept  away  and  but  temporarily  repaired,  I  felt  but  little 
confidence  that  we  could  get  through  that  night, — if  we 
could  get  the  train  through  at  all.  I  amused  myself,  as 
we  passed  along,  watching  the  soft  sides  of  the  road  and 
calculating  the  probable  loss  of  life  and  limbs  that  would 
follow  a  run-off.  Our  conductor  and  engineer  seemed, 
however,  to  value  their  own  lives,  and  the  train  proceeded 
with  great  caution — at  no  time  running  at  the  rate  of  over 
ten  miles  per  hour,  and  generally  not  exceeding  six.  We 
were  not  interrupted  in  our  course  for  some  thirty  miles, 


ANOTHER   HUNT  FOR   RATIONS.  33 

when  at  the  village  of  Honeybrook  we  came  upon  another 
wreck,  and  had  to  stop  for  repairs.  It  was  now  getting 
dark,  and,  as  we  had  dined  very  sparingly,  and  had  no 
prospect  whatever  of  supper,  I  renewed  my  foraging  efforts. 
There  were  half  a  dozen  shanties  scattered  about  the  place, 
including  an  Irish  railroad  boarding  shanty,  so  I  hoped  to 
be  able  to  gather  some  eggs  and  potatoes — the  only  things 
they  could  cook  without  rendering  them  unfit  to  eat  by 
dirt  and  grease.  An  ex-member  of  Congress  went  with 
me,  while  the  others  divided  off  in  squads  to  raid  upon 
the  different  houses.  The  Congressman  had  a  child  in  his 
party,  and  milk  was  requisite  to  its  comfort,  and  we  drove 
the  cows  with  us  up  to  the  door  of  the  house  we  assailed. 
We  went  in  to  negotiate,  and  found  the  lady  of  the  house, 
with  a  blooming  daughter  just  doing  up  her  hair  in  the 
last  weekly  paper,  preparatory  to  frizzing  it  for  Sunday. 
We  asked  in  turn  for  eggs,  meat,  potatoes,  bread,  and  milk, 
but  they  had  none  of  most  of  the  articles,  and  none  to 
spare  of  any  of  them.  "  But  my  child  must  have  milk," 
said  the  grave  national  legislator.  "  So  must  my  calves," 
said  the  Western  matron,  with  a  dignity  and  independence 
that  showed  her  to  be  master  of  the  situation  and  de- 
termined to  keep  it.  The  Congressman  became  patron- 
izing, and  proposed  that  he  would  milk  the  cow,  and  that 
I  would  nurse  her  baby,  if  she  would  consent  to  sell  enough 
to  give  the  young  Congressman  his  supper.  Finally  the 
lady  came  in ;  but  she  would  not  trust  either  of  us  with 
the  cows,  and  she  milked  a  quart,  which  she  gave  for  half 
a  dollar.  While  the  milking  was  going  on,  I  negotiated 
with  the  daughter  for  a  loaf  of  bread  by  a  tempting  offer ; 
and  was  glad  to  get  it,  notwithstanding  the  untidiness  of 
the  bakery,  and  the  general  air  of  filth  about  them.  We 
next  got  two  dozen  of  eggs,  boiled  by  a  man  who  had  a 
sort  of  a  boarding-car  to  feed  the  hands  making  repairs,  at 

4* 


34  SWINDLED  BY  BIDDY. 

the  modest  price  of  one  dollar  and  a  half;  and  the  same 
generous  gentleman  made  us  a  gallon  of  what  he  called 
tea,  for  another  half  a  dollar.  We  called  it  tea,  because 
he  said  it  was  tea,  and  we  could  not  prove  the  contrary. 
We  then  tried  the  Irish  Biddy  of  the  shanty  to  get  some 
potatoes  roasted,  and  finally  got  her  to  agree  to  roast  us 
two  dozen  for  half  a  dollar,  in  advance.  She  put  them  in 
the  stove — so  much  I  saw  of  the  potatoes ;  but  I  do  not 
know  that  they  ever  came  out.  There  were  cakes — the  in- 
evitable fat  biscuit — in  the  oven,  the  fire  was  bad,  the  cook 
was  mad,  and  I  saw  that  if  there  was  any  chance  for  the 
train  to  get  off  within  an  hour  or  two,  the  potatoes  would 
not  be  done  until  just  after  the  train  started.  An  hour 
afterward,  the  whistle  sounded,  and  we  left  the  potatoes 
and  the  half-dollar  with  Biddy.  She  had  a  supper  to  her 
liking,  if  we  did  go  hungry  for  want  of  them. 

From  the  romantic  village  of  Honeybrook,  we  got  along 
slowly  but  safely  to  the  river.  We  arrived  within  a  mile 
of  Council  Bluffs  a  little  before  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and 
there  our  conductor,  engineer,  and  everybody  but  the  car- 
boy left  us  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  We  were  ticketed 
to  Omaha,  on  the  western  side  of  the  river ;  but  the  only 
answer  we  could  get  from  any  one  was  that  we  had  better 
stay  where  we  were,  as  we  could  not  get  rooms  in  Coun- 
cil Bluffs,  and  would  not  cross  the  river  before  the  next 
morning.  We  had  all  become  patient  by  this  time,  and 
made  as  merry  as  we  could  over  our  helpless  position.  We 
concluded  to  stay  where  we  were,  and,  as  we  had  a  sleep- 
ing-car, we  went  to  bed  on  the  track,  like  a  family  of  gen- 
uine Micawbers,  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up.  Morn- 
ing came,  but  no  .one  called  to  claim  the  car  or  to  tell  us 
where  to  go.  The  flats  were  wet  and  muddy  from  the  late 
overflow,  the  omnibuses  would  not  run  between  the  cars 
and  the  town,  so  we  disposed  of  the  remnant  of  our  last 


TROUBLE  IN  CROSSING    THE  MISSOURI.          35 

evening's  lunch,  and  patiently  waited  for  somebody  to 
come  and  put  us  and  our  baggage  across  the  river.  Once 
I  thought  I  had  cut  the  Gordian  knot.  I  found  the  agent 
of  the  Transfer  Company,  and  was  about  negotiating  to 
get  us  across  ;  but  the  treaty  was  suddenly  terminated  by 
the  information  that  the  Transfer  Company  had  not  break- 
fasted, and  that  nothing  could  be  done  until  after  that 
important  event.  I  kindly  proposed  to  breakfast  with  the 
Transfer  Company ;  but  the  Transfer  Company  preferred 
to  breakfast  alone,  so  I  did  not  breakfast  at  all.  In  the 
mean  time,  impatience  was  gaining  supremacy  in  our  se- 
verely-tested circle.  The  children  were  crying  for  want 
of  proper  food,  and  matrons  and  men  were  not  by  any 
means  jocular,  nor  yet  devoutly  disposed,  although  it  was 
Sunday.  To  add  to  the  discomfort,  the  wind  was  sweep- 
ing across  the  river  most  furiously,  and  it  was  keenly  cold. 
A  muskrat  enlivened  the  party  by  swimming  up  along- 
side of  our  car,  and  sailing  around  us  as  if  he  wanted  to 
be  sociable.  Soon  after  bang  went  a  rifle  from  the  front 
car;  but  the  muskrat  sailed  on  leisurely  as  the  bullet 
struck  the  water  two  rods  ahead  of  him.  The  ice  once 
broken,  rifles  gleamed  from  every  car,  and  half  a  score  of 
balls  were  sent  after  the  now  retreating  rat ;  but  I  was 
glad  to  notice  that  all  were  harmless.  It  was  to  me  an 
unusual  Sunday  service ;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  no 
one  complained  of  the  irreverent  break  of  the  monotony  of 
starvation  and  vexatious  delay. 

At  last  the  Transfer  Company  managed  to  get  break- 
fast, and  by  eleven  o'clock  there  were  coaches  brought  up 
to  take  us  to  the  river,  and  thence  across  on  the  boat.  We 
put  the  ladies  inside,  and  fourteen  gentlemen  got  on  out- 
side, filling  the  boot,  the  top,  the  driver's  seat ;  and  hang- 
ing on  all  around.  We  had  four  miles  of  staging  before 
reaching  the  river,  and  when  we  did  get  there,  the  wind 


36  THE  PEOPLE. OF  OMAHA.  ^ 

was  so  high  that  the  boat  could  not  be  forced  from  the 
shore  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  notwithstanding  the  puffing 
of  her  engines  and  the  splashing  of  her  wheels.  But 
patience  and  perseverance  overcame  all,  and  by  noon  yes- 
terday we  were  safe  at  the  Herndon  House ;  a  house  equal 
to  a  first-class  city  hotel  in  size  and  charges, — further 
deponent  saith  not. 

Such  was  our  trip  across  the  two  great  rivers  of  the 
West  to  the  eastern  terminus  of  what  is  called  the  Plains. 
Upon  the  whole,  it  was  as  pleasant  as  we  could  expect, 
and  we  have  all  enjoyed  it,  notwithstanding  its  privations 
and  delays.  I  have  not  been  here  over  twenty-four  hours, 
and  everybody  knows  me,  and  I  know  pretty  much  every- 
body. People  don't  wait  for  introductions.  Your  name 
is  read  on  the  register,  and  you  are  at  once  addressed  by 
name,  your  journey  and  business  inquired  into,  and  infor- 
mation freely  given  you.  The  man  is  to  be  pitied  who 
cannot  at  once  like  the  Western  business  people ;  they  are 
generous,  frank,  kind,  and  clever,  and  make  you  feel  at 
honn3  at  once.  I  had  not  been  an  hour  at  the  hotel,  before 
the  landlord,  to  whom  I  had  never  spoken,  came  up  to  me 
where  I  was  standing  on  the  porch,  threw  his  arm  over 
my  shoulder,  helped  himself  to  my  tobacco,  named  me, 
and  told  me  where  I  was  going,  how  long  I  expected  to  be 
away,  and  gave  me  all  the  good  advice  about  the  plains 
he  had  to  spare.  He  is  but  a  type  of  the  enterprise  and 
go-ahead-ativeness  of  the  Great  West- — the  people  who 
w^ill,  in  a  quarter  of  a  century  more,  change  our  great  com- 
mercial centres,  and  make  the  seat  of  Empire  west  of  the 
Father  of  Waters. 


LETTER    IY. 

Council  Bluffs. — The  Enterprise  and  Thrift  of  Omaha. — A  Speci- 
men "Western  City. — How  Houses  are  built  in  a  Day. — The 
Indian  War. — General  Augur's  projected  Campaign  in  the 
Hostile  Country. — Position  and  Numbers  of  many  of  the  In- 
dian Tribes  unknown. — Our  Military  Force  inadequate  for 
War. — Embarrassments  of  the  Indian  Problem. — The  Inevita- 
ble Fate  of  the  Ked  Man. — Sympathy  of  the  Military  with  the 
Indians. — The  Opinions  of  the  Western  People. 

OMAHA,  May  7,  1867. 

COUNCIL  BLUFFS  was  once  the  City  of  Promise  on  this 
line,  and  is  still  a  most  active  and  growing  place,  with 
two  daily  papers,  many  fine  buildings,  and  a  most  enter- 
prising people.  But  the  perfection  of  Western  enterprise 
and  thrift,  of  Western  styles  and  manners,  of  Western 
hazard  and  progress,  is  to  be  found  on  this  side  of  the 
Missouri,  in  Omaha.  It  has  over  ten  thousand  of  a  popu- 
lation, and  more  carriages  than  any  town  of  the  same  size 
east  of  the  Alleghanies;  sells  more  goods  and  at  higher 
prices;  deals  out  town  lots  by  the  foot  at  more  fabulous 
rates;  has  more  hotels,  which  are  better  patronized,  dirtier, 
and  dearer ;  builds  more  houses  in  a  day,  and  rents  them 
for  more  money;  plays  poker  with  a  higher  ante,  faro 
and  keno  with  a  more  liberal  limit ;  runs  horses  oftener 
and  for  higher  stakes,  than  any  other  city  of  ten  thousand 
people  I  have  ever  read  of.  It  expects  to  surpass  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis  in  a  few  years,  and  talks  of  being  the  national 
capital  by  the  time  our  sons  go  to  Congress.  The  poor 
Pawnee  Indian  wanders  through  the  streets  bewildered  at 

(37) 


38  THE  INDIAN    WAR. 

this  high  carnival  of  progress ;  for  a  week's  absence  trans- 
forms streets  and  rears  structures  where  was  vacancy  be- 
fore. One  gentleman  told  me  that  while  at  supper  a  house 
was  reared  and  greeted  him  on  his  return  to  his  office. 
The  houses  are  framed  in  Chicago  and  sent  here  ready  to 
put  up,  and  it  is  done  with  marvelous  speed.  A  new  and 
much-needed  hotel  is  just  under  contract.  It  is  to  be  one 
hundred  and  three  by  ninety-five  feet,  three  stories  high, 
and  is  to  be  completed  in  sixty-six  days  from  the  date  of 
the  articles.  More  than  that,  it  will  be  done ;  on  the  sixty- 
seventh  day  it  will  be  full  of  guests,  and  likely  the  sixty- 
eighth  will  witness  a  grand  ball.  Fractions  of  a  hundred 
dollars  seem  to  be  unknown  as  rents.  An  ordinary  store- 
room, such  as  would  rent  for  two  hundred  dollars  or 
thereabouts  in  a  good  location  in  one  of  our  Eastern 
towns,  has  scores  of  applicants  for  it  here  at  from  $1800 
to  $2000  per  annum.  They  are  generally  one  and  a  half 
or  two  stories  high,  built  in  the  cheapest  manner  of  wood, 
and  in  any  New  York  village  would  not  cost  more  than 
one-fourth  of  one  year's  rent  in  Omaha.  Everybody  be- 
lieves that  the  already  fabulous  prices  will  advance  steadily. 
I  think  differently,  but  have  not  ventured  to  set  the  whole 
city  into  commotion  by  saying  so.  I  doubt  whether  any 
one  would  be  excused  for  expressing  the  opinion  that  there 
might  possibly  be  a  returning  tide  of  sweeping  disaster 
in  the  headlong  business  and  feverish  speculation  of  this 
city. 

I  found  the  "  Tribune"  of  the  1st  instant  to-day,  and  was 
not  a  little  annoyed  at  the  startling  dispatches  from  St. 
Louis  about  the  so-called  Indian  war.  I  see  that  the 
"Herald  "has  had  dispatches  from  Leavenworth  stating 
that  General  Augur  was  about  to  move  west  from  Fort 
Phil.  Kearney  with  six  thousand  troops,  and  that  eleven 
thousand  hostile  Indians  were  encamped  on  the  line  of  his 


THE  INDIAN    WAR.  39 

march  between  Forts  Phil.  Kearney  and  C.  F.  Smith.  I 
had  just  returned  from  a  protracted  interview  with  General 
Augur  when  I  saw  a  dispatch  in  the  "  Tribune". correcting 
the  "  Herald's"  sensation  dispatch.  The  truth  is  that  there 
are  not  five  thousand  troops  in  all,  and  there  are  not  the 
half  of  eleven  thousand  Indian  warriors  who  are  hostile 
or  doubtful  in  the  whole  of  General  Augur's  department; 
and  so  far  from  being  about  to  march  from  Fort  Phil. 
Kearney  west,  he  will  not  get  his  troops  to  Fort  Laramie 
before  the  1st  of  June,  will  not  start  from  there  on  his 
expedition  before  the  10th  or  15th  of  the  same  month, 
and  cannot  reach  Fort  Phil.  Kearney  before  the  middle 
of  July.  When  he  does  start  from  Fort  Laramie,  his  force 
will  consist,  as  I  am  officially  informed,  of  the  Second 
Cavalry,  the  Thirtieth  Infantry,  a  battalion  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth Infantry,  and  a  battalion  of  Pawnee  scouts  num- 
bering about  two  hundred — giving  him  an  effective  force  of 
about  twro  thousand  men,  nearly  one-half  of  them  mounted. 
It  seems  to  be  a  small  force  to  move  against  the  Indians, 
according  to  the  general  conceptions  of  Eastern  people 
about  the  Indian  war.  The  impression  prevails  generally 
that  the  campaigns  of  General  Hancock  south  of  the  Platte, 
of  General  Augur  north  of  the  Platte  to  the  Yellowstone, 
and  of  General  Terry  up  the  Missouri,  are  intended  as  a 
wrar  of  extermination  against  the  Indians.  Such  is  not  the 
expectation  of  the  commanders.  If  this  were  their  pur- 
pose, the  general  criticism  of  the  Eastern  press  on  the  folly 
of  hunting  Indians  with  infantry  and  artillery  would  be 
just.  If  the  Indians  were  now  engaged  in  a  general  war, 
as  is  persistently  represented  by  speculators  and  other  in- 
terested parties,  they  could  drive  all  the  troops  east  of  the 
Missouri  in  sixty  days,  or  scalp  two-thirds  of  them  if  tliry 
preferred.  IS'ot  a  coach  or  train  could  pass  across  the 
mountains;  and  yet  the  overland  coach  runs  dailv,  and 


40        GENERAL  AUGUR'S  PROJECTED    CAMPAIGN. 

trains  pass  over  all  but  the  Powder  River  route  with  com- 
parative safety.  Occasionally  a  weak  train  is  captured  on 
the  Smoky  Hill  route,  through  Kansas,  and  north  of  Fort 
Laramie  travel  is  not  allowed,  while  the  massacre  of  Fort 
Phil.  Kearney  indicates  a  savage,  implacable  hostility  in 
the  Powder  River  region ;  but  as  yet  the  Indians  have 
made  no  hostile  demonstrations  looking  like  general  war, 
such  as  is  anticipated  in  the  East. 

General  Augur  is  an  old  Indian-fighter,  and  understands 
the  Indian  character  well.  He  spent  some  ten  years  be- 
fore the  rebellion  in  fighting  steadily  with  the  Indians  on 
the  Pacific  slopes — a  race  equally  as  valorous  as  our  Sioux 
and  Cheyennes.  He  is  an  accomplished  officer,  will  com- 
mand his  expedition  in  person — with  Brevet  Major-Gen- 
eral Gibbon  second  in  command — and  understands  well 
that  he  is  neither  expected  nor  prepared  to  wage  a  suc- 
cessful offensive  war  against  the  red  men.  He  will  go 
upon  the  Powder  River  route,  garrison  it,  fight  when  neces- 
sary, either  on  the  offensive  or  the  defensive,  and  punish 
with  relentless  severity  all  cruelties  committed  by  his 
foes.  When  it  is  considered  that  to  us,  even  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  department,  the  actual  position  of  half  the 
tribes  of  Nebraska  and  Dakotaois  unknown,  save  by  con- 
jecture, the  Eastern  public  can  judge  how  wild  are  their 
calculations  as  to  the  results  of  the  Indian  expeditions. 
There  are  in  General  Augur's  department  but  four  or  five 
tribes  which  are  known  to  be  hostile,  and  some  of  them 
are  what  might  be  termed  semi-hostile ;  for,  while  they  are 
dissatisfied  and  unfriendly,  they  have  not  marshaled  their 
warriors,  as  yet,  for  the  war-path.  In  {this  list  may  be 
classed  the  Arrapahocs,  the  Lower  Brules,  the  Yancton- 
nais,  and  the  Sans  Arcs.  The  tribes  in  this  Military  Depart- 
ment either  wholly  or  partially  hostile,  or  whose  position 
is  not  definitely  known,  are  as  follows,  viz.,  the  Ogalallas 


POSITION  AND  NUMBERS   OF  THE  INDIANS.     41 

and  Brules  of  the  Platte,  numbering  seven  thousand  eight 
hundred,  mostly  friendly,  living  on  the  Republican  River; 
the  Cheyennes,  north  of  the  Platte,  numbering  eighteen 
hundred,  all  hostile ;  the  Arrapahoes,  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  strong;  the  Lower  Brules,  twelve  hundred  strong, 
accepted  as  hostile,  but  not  certainly  known  to  be  so;  the 
Blackfeet  Sioux  (a  roving  offshoot  of  the  regular  Black- 
feet),  thirteen  hundred  strong,  thriving  and  hostile ;  the  Min- 
neconjous,  numbering  two  thousand  two  hundred,  mostly 
hostile,  but  divided ;  the  TJncopapas,  eighteen  hundred 
strong,  and  the  Ogalallas  of  the  north,  two  thousand  four 
hundred  strong,  known  as  hostile ;  and  the  Yanctonnais, 
two  thousand  four  hundred  strong,  and  the  Sans  Arcs,  six- 
teen hundred  strong,  inclined  to  be  hostile,  but  divided. 
The  Two  Kettles  are  friendly  on  their  reservation;  and  the 
Crows,  four  thousand  strong,  have  always  been  friends, 
and  are  the  deadly  enemies  of  the  Sioux.  The  Pawnees, 
the  Utes,  and  other  lesser  tribes  in  this  Department  (Iowa, 
Nebraska,  Dakota,  and  Utah)  are  all  friendly.  The  num- 
bers given  above  are  the  entire  population  of  the  several 
tribes,  and  it  is  a  safe  estimate  that  if  all  not  known  to  be 
friendly  should  unite  on  the  war-path  they  could  not  mar- 
shal five  thousand  warriors,  while  it  is  reasonably  certain 
that,  by  treaties  now  in  process,  fully  half  of  the  wrarriors 
regarded  as  hostile  or  unfriendly  will  be  made  neutral  or 
effective  allies  against  the  Indians  persisting  in  warfare. 
Already  two  hundred  Pawnees  are  enlisted  as  scouts  by 
General  Augur,  and  fifteen  hundred  Crows  have  formally 
proposed  to  him,  through  the  Indian  Commission,  to  join  his 
forces  against  the  Sioux,  on  the  condition  that  the  Yellow- 
stone country  (from  which  the  Crows  were  driven  by  the 
Sioux)  shall  be  restored  to  them.  Just  what  Gem-nil  Augur 
will  do  when  he  moves  west  from  Laramic,  a  month  hence, 
cannot  now  be  even  calculated.  General  Sully 's  commission, 

5 


42  INEVITABLE  FATE   OF  THE  RED  MAN. 

now  well  on  to  Fort  Phil.  Kearney,  will  have  exhausted 
its  powers  to  make  peace,  and  to  combine  the  friendly  In- 
dians against  the  unfriendly,  if  the  shock  of  savage  war- 
fare must  come ;  and  his  letters  quite  recently  received  by 
General  Augur  are  very  hopeful  of  peace,  or  rather  that  a 
general  war  can  be  averted.  If  war  must  come,  then  we 
are  entirely  unprepared  for  it,  for  there  are  not  one-fifth 
the  number  of  troops  here  necessary  even  to  keep  open 
the  overland  route  and  the  Missouri  River — the  two  great 
thoroughfares — much  less  to  exterminate  the  Indians. 
That  the  red  man  must  fade  away,  and  that  during  the 
present  century,  I  do  not  doubt;  but  his  contact  with  civili- 
zation will  do  the  fatal  work  more  rapidly  than  a  hun- 
dred thousand  soldiers.  He  accepts  all  the  vices  and  a 
few  of  the  virtues  of  the  pale-faces,  and  disease  and  dissi- 
pation are  fast  diminishing  the  numbers  and  degrading 
still  lower  in  the  scale  of  creation  the  once  proud  inhabit- 
ant of  the  wilderness.  That  he  has  little  sympathy,  and 
that  nine-tenths  of  the  people  look  to  his  extermination 
either  approvingly  or  anxiously,  is  not  to  be  questioned ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  most  military  officers  and  govern- 
ment agents  who  have  maintained  an  unsullied  reputation 
in  dealing  with  the  Indians,  cling  to  the  conviction  that 
the  red  men  are  deeply  wronged,  and  that  if  fairly  treated 
they  would,  as  a  rule,  maintain  faith  and  friendship  with 
the  whites.  General  Augur  informed  me  that  he  has  not 
been  able  to  learn  of  a  single  chief  who  signed  the  treaty 
at  Savanne  last  spring  engaging  in  hostilities.  Red  Cloud, 
the  leader  of  the  present  difficulties,  refused  to  sign  the 
treaty,  as  did  some  others  who  were  present  and  are  now 
at  war.  This  is  directly  at  variance  with  the  generally 
received  opinion  among  the  Avhitos,  who  believe  that  the 
treaties  were  made  to  get  ammunition  to  capture  trains 
and  emigrants.  Ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  Western 


OPINIONS   OF  THE    WESTERN  PEOPLE.  43 

men  believe  that  the  sooner  the  Indians  are  killed  off  the 
better,  and  they  insist  that  it  is  a  humane  work  to  kill  them 
off  whenever  and  wherever  found.  How  much  the  pre- 
vailing- sentiment,  and  its  logical  results  displayed  in  the 
actions  of  Western  people  and  traders  and  miners,  have 
had  to  do  with  our  present  Indian  difficulties,  I  leave 
others  to  judge.  When  I  shall  have  passed  through  the 
Indian  country,  I  may  have  more  decided  convictions  on 
the  subject  than  now. 

But  for  the  white  tents  which  dot  the  bluffs  near  this 
place,  the  crowd  of  officers  that  throng  the  streets,  and  the 
hurried  moving  of  military  stores,  with  an  occasional 
hearty  curse  you  hear  hurled  at  the  Indian,  no  one  here 
would  suppose  that  there  were  any  troubles  on  the  Plains. 
The  trains  and  coaches  run  regularly.  Passengers  come 
through  on  their  way  East,  and  laugh  when  interrogated 
as  to  the  danger  of  Indians.  They  had  not  heard  or 
thought  of  them,  is  the  usual  reply.  Crowds  go  west- 
ward daily,  and  all  things  seem  to  be  considered  but  the 
danger  of  assault  or  capture  by  the  Indians.  All  are  well 
armed,  and  the  men  going  westward,  especially  those  who 
have  been  there,  all  consider  themselves  able  to  whip  any 
number  of  Indians  single-handed  if  they  should  cross  their 
path.  Families,  embracing  mothers  and  daughters,  start 
out  by  every  train,  and  the  Far-Western  ladies  make  the 
trip  unattended  without  any  fear  as  to  their  safety.  Gen- 
eral Potter  will  leave  his  head-quarters  at  Fort  Sedgwick 
(Julesburg),  with  ten  companies  of  troops,  to  protect  the 
stage  route  and  the  construction  of  the  railroads,  and  no 
apprehensions  are  felt  about  the  interruption  of  travel  on 
the  Plains.  True,  a  roving  band  of  Indians  may  attack  a 
small  party  at  any  time,  but  it  is  evident  that  no  consider- 
able body  of  hostile  Indians  can  endanger  the  overland 
route  for  any  length  of  time.  Yesterday  a  band  of  them 


44  THE  "FIRE-WAGONS." 

struck  one  of  the  stage-stations  between  Julesburg  and 
Denver,  capturing  the  horses  and  burning  the  station,  but 
did  not  attempt  to  kill  or  capture  any  of  the  men.  They 
are  just  now  in  search  of  horses,  and  -will  be  likely  to 
trouble  the  overland  stations — much  more  likely  to  raid 
upon  the  stations  than  upon  the  stages,  for  they  have  no 
love  for  uncertain  warfare,  and  they  can  never  calculate 
the  armed  force  in  a  stage  until  they  draw  its  fire.  They 
have  met  with  several  severe  defeats  by  attacking  stages, 
and  they  call  them  the  "fire-wagons." 


LETTER    V. 

Starting  from  Omaha  for  the  Plains. — The  Union  Pacific  Railroad. 
— The  Flood  in  the  Platte  Valley. — The  Plattc  River. — Scarcity 
of  Shrubbery  and  Trees. — The  Adobe  Shanties. — Antelopes  and 
Buffaloes. — The  Indian  War  again. — It  grows  more  serious. — 
General  Hancock's  Expedition  South. — His  Enemy  raids  North. 
— The  Cost  of  Killing  Indians. — The  Military  embarrassed  by 
the  Civil  Authorities. — Transfer  of  the  Indians  to  the  War  De- 
partment a  Necessity. — Off  again  Westward. 

NORTH  PLATTE,  May  8,  1807. 

I  LEFT  Omaha  last  evening  at  six  o'clock,  by  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  must  confess  that  I  did  not  leave  re- 
gretfully. There  are  few  persons,  not  actually  bound  there 
by  the  tide  of  business  that  is  sweeping  in  and  about  the 
place,  who  will  spend  any  time  needlessly  in  what  the 
Omahaians  regard  as  the  coming  city  of  the  West.  They 
boast  greatly  of  the  rare  variety  of  climate — having  had 
snow-storms,  thunder-storms,  hurricanes,  impassable  mud, 
choking  dust,  earthquakes,  floods,  hard  freezes,  and  burn- 
ing suns  all  in  the  space  of  three  weeks.  I  must  concede 
all  they  claim  in  the  way  of  variety,  but  I  found  most  of  them 
differed  with  me  when  I  told  them  that  nothing  but  a  first- 
class  earthquake  or  a  general  fire  to  batter  or  burn  down 
these  miserable  buildings  will  ever  make  Omaha  what  I 
doubt  not  it  must  yet  be — a  substantial,  thrifty,  growing 
town, 

The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  is  now  completed  to  this 
point,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles,  and 

5*  ( 45  ) 


46  THE  PLATTE  RIVER. 

the  trains  run  with  comparative  regularity.  It  is  a  good 
Western  road, — tenfold  better  than  the  Iowa  part  of  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern, — and  makes  the  two  hundred 
and  ninety-five  miles  in  fifteen  hours.  It  suffered  consider- 
ably by  the  late  flood,  but  is  now  completely  repaired. 
The  inundation  of  the  Platte  Valley  must  have  been  fear- 
ful. I  saw  as  much  as  half  a  mile  of  railroad-track,  the 
ties  and  rails  still  connected,  swept  away  from  the  bed, 
and  strong,  new  rails  bent  nearly  double  by  the  violence  of 
the  water.  But  such  floods  are  not  frequent,  and  I  pre- 
sume that  it  is  safe  to  calculate  that  this  road  wiH  not  be 
more  subject  to  interruption  by  floods  than  are  first-class 
Eastern  roads.  After  passing  out  through  Nebraska  for  a 
few  miles,  the  evidence  of  progress  is  not  marked.  There 
are  but  few  settlers  on  the  line  of  the  road,  and  after  we 
enter  what  is  called  the  Platte  Plains,  about  Fort  Kearney, 
there  seems  to  be  little  that  can  ever  invite  the  husband- 
man. The  valley,  or  vast  plain,  is  bounded  on  every  side 
by  vast  bluffs,  ranging  from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  apart, 
and  the  bluffs  seem  to  be  terribly  sterile  and  repulsive.  The 
Platte  River  rolls  lazily  along  south  of  the  railroad,  hug- 
ging the  southern  bluffs  at  times,  and  again  striking  out 
near  the  centre  of  the  valley ;  but  it  tires  the  eye  to  look  at 
it  and  its  surroundings.  It  is  a  murky,  shallow,  treacher- 
ous stream,  with  shifting  sands  for  its  bed,  and  naked 
banks  skirting  it  all  the  way.  I  have  looked  for  miles 
along  its  course  without  seeing  so  much  as  a  shrub,  much 
less  a  tree;  but  at  times,  when  it  nears  the  bluffs,  it  puts 
out  along  its  banks  a  stunted,  miserable  growth  of  cotton- 
wood.  I  have  not  seen  a  tree  off  the  stream  in  the  great 
Platte  V alley  thus  far,  and  not  one  even  on  the  stream  that 
would  make  a  good  rail  or  a  telegraph-pole.  The  valley  is 
a  miserable  waste,  and  I  fear  ever  must  be.  I  have  not 
found  a  single  stream  in  it  but  the  Platte  River — the  whole 


THE  INDIAN   WAR  AGAIN.  47 

plain  thus  far,  north  of  the  river,  not  furnishing  a  single 
tributary.  In  addition  to  this,  there  are  but  few  rains 
during  the  summer,  and  no  possible  means  of  irrigation. 
The  grass  is  now  covered  with  a  white  coat  of  alkali,  and 
all  the  water,  even  from  the  wells,  is  strongly  impregnated 
with  it.  The  ox-trains  going  west  by  this  route  keep  south 
of  the  Platte,  between  the  river  and  the  bluffs,  and  I  learn 
that  there  is  better  grass  there,  and  an  occasional  stream 
running  to  the  river.  There  is  not  a  habitation  on  the 
route  for  nearly  two  hundred  miles  but  such  as  are  neces- 
sary to  accommodate  the  railroad  and  travel.  Here  and 
there  are  miserable  adobe  shanties,  with  signs  out,  offering 
whisky  and  other  luxuries  to  the  weary  sojourner;  but  I 
have  not  seen  so  much  as  the  sign  of  a  farm,  or  a  fold,  or 
even  a  patch,  for  fully  one  hundred  miles.  The  antelopes 
would  come  up  close  to  the  train  and  gaze  at  it  with  bound- 
less curiosity,  until  some  ambitious  sport  would  send  a 
bullet  after  them.  They  would  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
dust  raised  by  the  bullet,  and  then  fly  off  with  bewitching 
grace.  The  buffalo  grazed  quietly  eight  miles  north  of  us 
at  one  place  on  the  Plains,  and  the  prairie-dog  and  owl  oc- 
casionally peeped  out  at  us  as  we  passed  along. 

We  are  beginning  to  realize  that  there  is  something  of 
an  Indian  war  going  on.  We  are  advised  here  that  a  band 
of  Cheyenncs  (pronounced  Shi-en')  had  made  a  raid  on 
our  stage  line  sixty  miles  in  advance  of  us,  captured  all 
the  hor.es  at  the  American  Ranch,  and  burned  the  Fair- 
view  Station  beyond.  I  had  an  inkling  of  it  from  General 
Augur  yesterday,  before  I  left  Omaha,  but  his  advices  were 
indefinite,  and  he  did  not  fully  credit  them.  He  therefore 
withheld  the  information  from  the  public  press,  but  com- 
municated it  to  me  just  as  he  had  received  it,  inasmuch  as 
I  was  about  to  travel  the  route.  He  had  been  advised  of 
a  probable  raid  on  the  overland  line,  between  Julesburg 


48        GENERAL  HANCOCK'S  EXPEDITION  SOUTH. 

and  Denver,  by  Spotted  Tail  and  Swift  Bear,  two  chiefs  of 
the  Ogalallas  and  Brules,  who  have  been  temporarily  quar- 
tered on  the  Republican  Fork  by  General  Sully.  About 
fifteen  hundred  from  those  tribes  are,  for  the  present,  al- 
lowed to  occupy  the  region  from  the  Smoky  Hill  to  the 
Platte,  where  there  are  good  hunting  grounds.  They  have 
interpreters  and  scouts  with  them,  employed  by  General 
Augur,  and  are  under  pledge  to  keep  the  peace  themselves, 
arid  not  to  allow  hostile  tribes  to  move  across  their  grounds 
without  sending  messages  to  the  nearest  military  post.  A 
few  days  ago  Spotted  Tail  sent  a  messenger  to  General 
Augur  with  word  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  lodges  of 
Cheyennes  and  sixty  lodges  of  Sioux,  all  hostile,  had 
moved  up  to  the  Republican  Fork  from  the  Smoky  Hill, 
and  that  they  were  offering  every  inducement  to  get  Spotted 
Tail's  young  warriors  to  join  them  in  a  war  upon  the 
whites.  He  was  offered  one  hundred  horses  if  he  would  join 
the  hostile  tribes.  He  refused,  and  asked  to  be  removed 
from  that  region,  with  his  lodges,  to  some  place  where  the 
hostile  tribes  would  not  harass  his  people  and  seduce  his 
young  warriors  from  him.  The  lodges  of  the  Indians  aver- 
age about  five  persons  to  each,  so  that  there  are  about  fifteen 
hundred  hostile  Indians  on  the  Republican  Fork,  within 
sixty  miles  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  and  near  enough 
to  both  stage  and  railroad  lines  to  raid  upon  either  or  both. 
With  these  hostile  tribes  are  their  families,  so  that,  all  told, 
there  are  not  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  warriors ;  but  that 
number,  near  enough  to  strike  a  great  thoroughfare  any 
place  in  a  stretch  of  one  hundred  miles,  may  prove  a  seri- 
ous impediment  to  travel.  These  are  represented  by 
Spotted  Tail  to  be  the  same  Indians  that  General  Hancock 
met  in  the  Smoky  Hill  region,  and  which  General  Ouster 
was  supposed  to  be  driving  far  south.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain,— that  General  Custcr  has  found  no  hostile  Indians 


THE  COST  OF  KILLING   INDIANS.  49 

south  of  Smoky  Hill  as  far  as  he  has  been  heard  from,  and 
it  is  equally  certain  that  a  hostile  party  turns  up  several 
hundred  miles  in  his  rear,  that  did  not  cross  the  Platte 
from  the  north.  So  much  for  the  results  of  the  expedition 
south.  The  troops  sweep  down  toward  the  Arkansas, 
while  the  Indians  make  the  plains  resound  with  their  war- 
whoop  upon  the  Republican,  and  the  belligerents  are  each 
pursuing  their  hostile  purposes  at  the  unusual  range  of 
three  hundred  miles.  In  this  we  have  but  a  foretaste  of 
our  offensive  Indian  campaigns.  It  will  be  no  fault  of  the 
commanders  that  these  expeditions,  generally  regarded 
East  as  offensive  movements,  will  prove  ludicrous  fail- 
ures. They  are  doing  the  best  they  can.  They  are  obey- 
ing orders,  and  will  do  much  good  in  their  way ;  but  the 
practical  results  will  not  be  palpable  to  the  masses  of  the 
people  who  are  patiently  waiting  for  General  Hancock  or 
General  Augur  or  General  Terry  to  carve  the  epitaph  of 
the  last  Red  Man  with  his  sword.  It  has  been  ascer- 
tained by  calculation  that  every  Indian  warrior  of  the 
Plains  killed  by  the  military  has  cost  the  government  about 
$115,000.  Rather  expensive  first-class  funerals,  it  must  be 
confessed,  to  lavish  on  barbarians ;  but  I  do  not  look  for 
the  Indian  funeral  market  to  decline  materially  in  price 
during  any  of  the  present  campaigns. 

The  defeat  of  the  bill,  proposed  recently  in  Congress,  to 
transfer  the  Indian  Bureau  to  the  War  Department,  was  a 
gigantic  mistake,  and  it  will  cost  the  government  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars,  worse  than  wasted,  this 
summer.  General  Augur  commands  a  large  Indian  de- 
partment, controls  its  armies,  projects  its  campaigns,  and 
fights  its  battles ;  but  he  can  do  nothing  more.  Some  In- 
dian agent,  but  too  often  an  unscrupulous  speculator  or  a 
downright  thief,  is  supreme  in  all  matters  but  actual  hos- 
tilities. The  Ogalallas  and  Brules,  now  temporarily  on 


50  TRANSFER    TO    THE    WAR   DEPARTMENT. 

the  Republican,  ask  to  be  transferred  from  the  perils  and 
the  influence  of  the  hostile  Cheyennes  and  Sioux,  who  have 
broken  into  their  hunting  grounds.  One  reason  given  by 
the  friendly  chiefs  is  that  their  young  warriors  cannot  be 
controlled  when  appealed  to  and  offered  tempting  bribes 
to  join  in  hostilities.  The  young  brave  has  but  one  hope 
of  distinction.  He  can  become  great  only  by  warfare.  He 
can  be  honored  only  by  wearing  the  rude  wreath  of  vic- 
tory known  to  the  barbarian  ;  and  his  dusky  bride  or  sweet- 
heart ever  prompts  him  to  deeds  of  blood.  With  good 
reason,  therefore,  do  Spotted  Tail  and  Swift  Bear,  two  vet- 
eran and  faithful  chiefs,  advise  that  their  followers  be  re- 
moved from  the  baleful  influences  of  the  hostile  tribes. 
But  who  is  to  remove  them  ?  General  Augur  dare  not, 
and  there  is  no  Indian  agent  nearer  than  Fort  Laramie 
who  has  any  power  over  the  question.  The  Pawnees  have 
their  agent  here,  but  his  jurisdiction  ends  with  the  Paw- 
nees. When  Indians  are  to  be  removed,  they  must  be  fed ; 
and  red  tape  demands,  even  in  the  midst  of  war,  that  they 
eat  none  but  rations  properly  issued  and  labeled  by  the 
Indian  Department.  If  the  whole  management  of  Indian 
affairs  had  been  transferred  to  the  War  Department,  we 
should  have  started  in  this  war  with  half  the  battle  gained, 
by  at  once  sweeping  from  position  the  swarms  of  civil 
agents  who  are  the  authors  of  so  much  of  our  Indian 
troubles,  and  our  military  commanders  would  now  be  em- 
powered to  treat,  transfer,  feed,  or  fight  them,  as  circum- 
stances might  require.  It  is  just  possible  that,  at  the  rate 
the  government  has  been  learning  the  management  of  In- 
dians, in  the  course  of  forty  years  or  so  we  may  attain 
something  approaching  common  sense  in  this  business,  and 
it  is  about  equally  probable  that  by  that  time  there  will  be 
no  Indians  left  to  experiment  on  in  a  sensible  way.  If 
the  government  does  not  solve  this  problem  at  an  early 


OFF  AGAIN    WESTWARD.  51 

day,  the  settlers  and  miners  will  solve  it  themselves,  and 
some  new  Cooper  may  write  "  The  Last  of  the  Chey- 
ennes,"  or  "  The  Last  of  the  Sioux,"  with  the  truth  of  its 
bloody  history  making  all  Indian  romance  pale  before  it. 
How  the  settlers  and  miners  will  end  Indian  depredations, 
the  Chivington  massacre  at  Sand  Creek  correctly  fore- 
shadows. Colonel  Chivington's  command  was  composed 
of  Colorado  volunteers — men  who  had  felt  or  seen  the 
cruel  savagery  of  the  Red  Man  in  resenting  his  real  or 
imaginary  wrongs ;  and,  although  a  dispassionate  examina- 
tion of  the  whole  case  must  force  the  conviction  that  White 
Antelope  and  his  followers  were  peaceable,  with  perhaps 
rare  exceptions,  he  and  his  whole  band,  squaws  and  pa- 
pooses, were  put  to  death — not  one  received  as  a  prisoner ; 
and  yet  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  Western  people  either  com- 
mend or  excuse  the  act.  They  feel  that  the  Indian  is  in 
their  way,  that  they  cannot  fraternize;  that  he  will  not 
work,  and  must  rob,  and  to  rob  must  often  kill ;  and  they 
look  hopefully  to  the  day  when  he  shall  have  offered  the 
last  of  his  race  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  progress  of  civilization. 
But  the  stage  is  loaded.  We  have  had  a  dinner  of  boiled 
antelope  and  vegetables — all  excellent  but  the  water, — and 
start  in  a  few  minutes  for  Denver,  distant  two  hundred  and 
ninety  miles,  and  will  have  an  opportunity  of  crossing  the 
path  of  the  hostile  Indians  who  struck  the  stations  sixty 
miles  west.  We  will  have  three  stages,  all  well  filled  and 
passengers  well  armed,  and  an  attack  is  not  probable  unless 
a  powerful  party  of  warriors  should  happen  to  strike  us. 
They  want  horses  more  than  scalps  or  trunks  and  bonnets, 
and  they  may  attack  twenty  stations  and  allow  the  stage  to 
pass  safely.  The  people  here,  passengers  and  proprietors, 
seem  to  take  no  account  of  the  Indians  beyond  a  careful 
examination  of  their  repeating1  rifles;  and  if  one  stage-load 
should  be  murdered  to-day,  another  would  start  out  to- 


52      THE  MOVEMENT  TOWARD   THE  SETTING  SUN. 

morrow,  just  as  usual.  Passengers  would  not  wait  merely 
because  half  a  dozen  persons  had  been  butchered,  and  the 
proprietors  would  not  think  of  stopping  their  line  for  even 
a  day  while  there  were  horses  enough  to  take  the  coach 
through.  The  movement  toward  the  setting  sun  is  ac- 
cepted as  inevitable,  and,  although  many  may  find  name- 
less and  forgotten  graves,  still  the  restless,  swelling,  ir- 
resistible tide  will  move  on,  until  the  savage  lives  only  in 
history,  and  his  once  favorite  hunting  grounds  shall  be 
known  only  as  the  beautiful  and  bountiful  fields  of  the 
mighty  West. 


LETTER    VI. 

From  North  Platte  to  Denver. — The  Barrenness  of  the  Platte 
Valley. — The  "Lone  Tree"  and  "Plum  Creek"  not  visible. — 
Sources  of  the  Platte  Kiver. — First  Experiment  in  Overland 
Staging.  —  The  First  Indian  Alarm.  —  Troops  protecting  a 
"Whisky-Mill.— Alarm  of  the  Station-Men.— A  Cowardly  Driver 
induced  to  change  his  Strategy. — A  Canadian  Frenchman  uses 
a  Revolver  as  a  Persuader. — The  First  "Square  Meal"  on  the 
Plains. — Fort  Sedgwick. — Plentj7  of  Troops,  but  ineffective. — 
Indians  drive  in  the  Cavalry. — The  Stage  goes  on  and  passes 
in  Safety. — Quicksand  and  Sand  Gnats. — A  Burnt  Station. — 
Supper  with  "Old  Wicked."— The  Dinner  at  Living  Spring.— 
Arrival  at  Denver. 

DENVER,  COLORADO,  May  11,  1867. 

WE  reached  the  city  last  night  about  nine  o'clock,  just 
three  days  and  three  hours  from  Omaha.  It  is  six  hun- 
dred miles,  of  which  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  is  by 
rail, — the  rest  of  the  journey  by  coach.  When  the  roads 
are  good,  the  trip  is  made  in  two  and  a  half  days;  but  the 
railroad  is  still  a  little  shaky  from  the  late  floods,  and  be- 
tween Indian  depredations,  floods,  and  quicksands,  the 
trip  is  generally  extended  twenty  hours  over  time.  From 
Omaha,  on  the  Missouri  River,  to  the  North  Platte,  the 
country  is  beautiful  prairie;  but  after  leaving  the  river  it 
soon  becomes  dry,  rains  seldom  fall,  dews  grow  lighter 
and  more  rare,  until  they  finally  disappear  altogether,  about 
Fort  Kearney,  and  thence  westward  there  is  but  one  con- 
tinued plain,  parched,  whitened  with  alkali,  without  shrub- 
bery or  trees,  almost  entirely  without  small  streams,  and 

6  (53) 


54  "LONE  TREE"   AND   "PLUM  CREEK." 

altogether  inhospitable,  bleak,  and  desolate.  From  Fort 
Kearney  west  to  near  this  place,  a  distance  of  four  hun- 
dred miles,  I  did  not  see  a  single  acre. in  cultivation, — not 
a  single  fence,  garden,  patch,  field,  or  anything  that  indi- 
cated thrift  or  productiveness.  The  river  Platte  rolls  its 
turbid  waters  through  the  Platte  Yalley,  and  makes  no 
sign  of  life  along  its  borders.  It  is  wide,  shallow,  muddy, 
broken  by  innumerable  islands,  treacherous,  and  appa- 
rently useless.  It  does  not  even  skirt  its  own  banks  with 
shrubs  or  timber.  All  along  its  banks  is  the  same  weary 
waste  that  the  plains  present  for  miles  on  either  side  of  it. 
Occasionally  it  presents  a  petty  growth  of  cottonwood  for 
a  few  miles,  but  they  are  mere  apologies  for  trees,  and 
make  the  general  view,  if  possible,  more  cheerless  by  their 
deformed  and  stinted  growth.  From  Kearney  west  I  did 
not  notice  a  tree  any  place  on  the  route,  nor  so  much  as 
even  a  temporary  tributary  to  the  Platte  River.  One 
station  on  the  railroad  is  called  "Lone  Tree"  station.  I 
looked  carefully  for  the  tree,  and  would  have  welcomed 
such  an  evidence  of  life  in  that  unbroken  waste,  but  I 
found  no  sign  of  it.  Upon  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that 
the  tree  existed  only  in  tradition.  It  is  positively  asserted 
that  there  once  was  a  tree  there,  a  brave  but  rather  un- 
sightly cedar,  that  had  successfully  resisted  the  unwhole- 
some waters  and  burning  suns  of  the  plain,  but  it  fell  be- 
fore the  march  of  civilization.  Every  traveler  plucked  a 
twig  from  its  branches,  until  the  branches  were  gone,  and 
then  the  trunk  was  chipped  away,  as  relics  of  the  Lone 
Tree  of  the  Platte  plain.  Equally  delusive  was  the  title 
of  another  railroad  station  called  "Plum  Creek."  At  last, 
I  supposed,  we  would  find  a  tributary  to  the  Platte — at 
least  a  little  rivulet  winding  through  the  sands  to  nourish 
some  vegetation  along  its  path.  But  Plum  Creek  station 
had  everything  but  the  creek.  It  had  not  even  the  bed  or 


SOURCES   OF  THE  PLATTE  RIVER.  55 

semblance  of  a  stream  of  water.  It  seems  that  a  little 
stream  empties  into  the  Platte  on  the  south  side,  some  ten 
miles  from  the  station,  and  the  railroad  company  did  the 
best  it  could,  in  the  absence  of  all  babbling  brooks,  by 
honoring  the  name  of  one  ten  miles  away  to  grace  their 
titles  in  the  railroad  guide.  So  the  country  continues  until 
the  Platte  divides,  and  in  the  peninsula  is  located  Platte 
City,  better  known  as  North  Platte.  The  North  Fork  is 
bridged  for  the  railroad,  and  at  the  end  of  the  bridge  the 
railroad  round-house  and  repair-shops  have  made  a  West- 
ern city.  It  consists  of  one  fair  hotel,  several  one-story 
boarding-houses  for  operatives,  several  warehouses,  as 
many  stores,  and  about  forty  "whisky-mills,"  or  small 
groceries,  where  whisky,  tobacco,  and  portable  eatables 
are  sold  at  fabulous  prices. 

The  North  Fork  of  the  Platte  has  its  course  consider- 
ably north  of  west  of  Fort  Laramie,  nearly  three  hundred 
miles  distant  from  the  junction,  and  from  Laramie  it 
sweeps  up  northward  to  the  Red  Buttes,  when  it  wheels 
around  south  again,  and  finally  heads  in  North  Park, 
Colorado.  The  South  Platte  has  a  southwestern  course 
from  the  junction  to  this  city,  and  from  here  its  course 
is  to  the  South  Park,  where  it  heads.  Both  forks  start  in 
the  Rocky  Range,  and  not  fifty  miles  apart,  but  they  sepa- 
rate as  much  as  six  hundred  miles  in  their  course  to  reach 
the  junction  at  Platte  City.  The  North  Fork  has  many 
tributaries  as  it  nears  the  mountains,  but  the  South  Fork 
continues  for  three  hundred  miles  without  any  important 
tributaries,  and  its  width  and  general  appearance  are  just 
the  same  during  all  that  distance,  while  the  country  is  but 
a  continuation  of  the  dry  alkali  plain  we  had  traversed  by 
rail  east  of  the  junction. 

We  started  from  Platte  City  about  two  P.M.  on  Wednes- 
day. The  beginning  of  Western  staging  was  anything 


56     FIRST  EXPERIMENT  IN  OVERLAND  STAGING. 

but  soothing  to  our  expectations.  A  large  baggage-wagon, 
without  springs,  containing  a  box  guiltless  of  any  sort  of 
seats,  was  driven  up  to  the  door,  and  half  a  ton  of  mail- 
bags  and  our  baggage  first  thrown  in.  These  filled  the 
bed  more  than  full,  and  upon  the  baggage  and  mail- 
bags  we  were  to  ride  for  eight  miles,  including  the  fording 
of  the  river,  before  we  could  get  to  the  coaches.  It  would 
have  been  in  vain  to  protest  against  compelling  passengers, 
and  especially  ladies,  to  travel  in  that  way.  We  had  paid 
our  fare,  we  had  to  go,  and  to  have  complained  would 
have  provoked  perhaps  still  harsher  treatment.  The  ladies, 
three  in  number,  were  piled  upon  the  trunks,  and  the  gen- 
tlemen hung  on  and  around  the  wagon  as  best  they  could. 
Between  keeping  themselves  and  the  ladies  from  falling 
off,  as  the  team  went  at  a  rapid  gait  over  a  rough  road, 
often  invisible  amid  the  clouds  of  dust  that  swept  over  us, 
they  had  more  on  hands  than  men  should  bargain  for. 
But  we  got  over  the  river,  and  finally  landed  at  the  coach- 
station  in  tolerable  order,  considering  all  things.  In  a 
short  time  a  regular  Concord  coach  was  driven  up,  with 
an  elegant  four-horse  team,  and  one  ton  of  mails  and  bag- 
gage and  nine  passengers  were  crowded  in  and  on  it 
ready  for  the  plains.  Two  of  the  passengers  took  outside 
seats,  or  we  should  have  had  a  sorry  time  of  it.  The 
coaches  here  are  fully  a  foot  shorter  in  the  bed  than  our 
old  Eastern  coaches,  and  when  nine  persons  are  in  one  of 
them,  they  are  so  completely  wedged  together  that  it  is  next 
to  impossible  to  change  position.  But,  by  dividing  Avith 
the  driver  and  the  stage-top,  we  got  fixed  rather  comfort- 
ably, the  driver  cracked  his  whip,  and  off  AATC  started  for 
Avhat  is  at  least  a  thirty-six  hours'  continuous  journey 
over  the  Platte  Valley. 

The  first  station  we  reached  was  about  ten  miles  from 
our  starting-place.    The  stations  along  the  route  vary  from 


THE  FIRST  INDIAN  ALARM.  57 

eight  to  fourteen  miles,  and  are  distinguished  as  "  swing" 
and  "  home"  stations.  The  swing  stations  furnish  a  change 
of  horses  only  ;  while  the  home  stations  furnish  new  teams 
and  "  square  meals"  to  the  passenger.  As  the  Indians  had 
cleaned  out  one  station  on  the  route  but  a  few  nights 
before,  I  need  not  say  that  the  Indian  question  became  one 
of  especial  interest  to  all  the  passengers.  I  walked  into 
the  stable  while  the  change  of  horses  was  being  made, 
and  inquired  of  the  man  in  charge  whether  he  had  any 
information  of  Indian  movements.  I  found  him  greatly 
excited  on  the  subject,  and  apprehensive  of  an  attack  any 
hour.  He  said  that  there  were  not  less  than  seventy-five 
hundred  hostile  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  just  south  of  the 
bluffs, — not  more  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  distant, — 
or  between  that  and  the  Republican  River,  and  that  they 
would  certainly  sweep  the  stage-line  with  scalping-knife 
and  torch,  as  they  did  in  the  winter  of  1865.  I  got  but 
little  comfort  from  him,  and  I  kept  his  information  to  my- 
self. He  was  evidently  frightened  out  of  all  judgment  on 
the  subject ;  and,  while  his  fears  were  not  entirely  ground- 
less, I  was  satisfied  that  there  was  no  large  force  of  sav- 
ages so  near.  But  he  doubtless  felt  as  I  did — that  fifty 
would  settle  the  business  with  a^station  or  a  stage-coach 
just  as  effectually  as  five  thousand.  At  the  second  station 
I  made  the  same  inquiry,  and  found  the  station-keepers — 
usually  from  two  to  four  men — greatly  alarmed,  but  much 
more  rational  than  the  others.  One  of  them  told  me  that 
he  had  ridden  out  over  the  hills  near  at  hand  and  seen 
two  Indians  quite  distinctly.  He  supposed  them  to  be 
spies,  looking  out  for  the  best  method  and  time  to  attack 
the  station.  The  driver  evidently  believed  the  report  of 
the  station-keeper,  and  considered  an  attack  upon  the  coach 
as  probable.  He  said  that  he  would  do  the  best  he  could 
for  himself  in  case  of  an  attack — that  he  had  a  good  knife 

0* 


58  A   REVOLVER  AS  A   PERSUADER. 

and  a  good  leader,  and  they  would  be  smart  if  they  caught 
him.  I  asked  him  whether  he  would  desert  the  stage  and 
passengers  in  that  manner ;  to  which  he  replied  that  he 
would  take  care  of  himself.  I  told  him  I  thought  that  no 
man  would  get  away  with  the  leader  should  the  Indians 
attack  us.  "  Why  not?"  was  his  quick  and  somewhat  ex- 
cited response.  "Because,"  said  I,  "we  shall  watch  that 
our  leader  don't  get  away."  We  had  a  fearless  Canadian 
Frenchman  on  the  outside,  who  has  spent  many  years  in 
the  Indian  country.  I  handed  him  a  good  revolver ;  and, 
although  no  explanations  passed,  there  were  at  least  three 
men,  including  the  driver,  who  understood  that  the  lead- 
horse  would  not  leave  the  team  in  case  of  trouble.  At  the 
next  station  we  found  a  squad  of  soldiers,  protecting  and 
patronizing  a  whisky-mill,  and  apparently  proving  them- 
selves a  most  effective  force  in  the  last  part.  They  had  no 
reports  of  Indians,  and  pronounced  the  route  to  be  clear. 
When  we  reached  the  next  station,  the  men  were  busy 
tunneling  from  the  stable  far  enough  off  to  be  safe  in  case 
of  fire,  and  they  were  panic-stricken  about  the  expected 
Indian  raid.  They  were  indeed  to  be  pitied,  for  they  are 
entirely  without  protection, — most  of  them  not  even  armed, 
— and,  as  the  Indians  want  horses  badly,  they  are  more  ex- 
posed than  any  other  class  of  people.  On  the  entire  route 
I  found  but  three  stations  where  there  were  any  arms. 
They  say  that  they  are  not  furnished  with  arms,  that  they 
cannot  afford  to  buy  them ;  and  that  even  if  they  were 
armed  they  could  not  defend  themselves  in  stables,  where 
the  Indian  has  but  to  apply  the  torch  to  the  hay  roof  and 
burn  them  out.  About  ten  o'clock  P.M.  we  reached  the 
first  "home-station,"  known  as  Alkali  Station,  and  we 
were  there  to  try  our  first  "  square  meal."  The  station- 
house  is,  like  all  others  on  the  route,  one  story  high,  and 
covered  with  sod.  The  sod  is  cut  in  the  lowlands  about 


THE  FIRST  "SQUARE  MEAL."  59 

six  inches  thick,  and  probably  eighteen  inches  square. 
These  are  piled  upon  each  other  to  the  height  of  eight 
feet,  wide  rafters  are  thrown  across,  and  another  course  of 
sod  for  a  roof  completes  the  building.  All  ranches,  stables, 
and  residences  on  the  line  are  built  in  the  same  way.  The 
lady  of  the  house  set  to  work  at  once  to  get  supper,  and, 
while  it  was  being  prepared,  we  were  invited  to  be  seated 
and  make  ourselves  at  home.  Her  shanty  bore  many  evi- 
dences of  neatness,  and  looked  as  heartsome  as  such  a 
hovel  could  be  made.  In  a  short  time,  supper  was  ready, 
and  we  were  all  most  agreeably  surprised  by  the  repast 
spread  for  us.  We  had  excellent  warm  rolls,  canned  to- 
matoes, peas,  blackberries,  peach-pie,  fried  ham,  stewed 
veal,  and  fried  potatoes,  with  tolerable  butter  and  coffee 
and  tea.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  best  meal  I  had  met  with 
since  leaving  Chicago.  We  were  all  hungry  as  well  as 
tired,  and  did  ample  justice  to  the  supper.  The  price  was 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  which  we  all  paid  most  cheer- 
fully. We  found  the  station-keeper  and  his  wife  both 
much  concerned  about  the  Indians,  and  they  talked  about 
closing  out  at  an  early  day. 

The  late  supper,  and  the  liberal  patronage  we  all  extended 
to  it,  made  sound  sleep  rather  difficult  in  a  stage-coach. 
We  had  by  this  time  become  used  to  Indian  reports ;  and, 
as  there  was  no  place  so  safe  as  in  the  stage,  we  all  got 
our  shawls  about  us,  looked  well  to  the  loading  of  our 
rifles,  and  to  their  position,  so  as  to  be  of  easy  access  in 
case  they  should  be  wanted,  and  devoted  ourselves  to  rest. 
Most  of  the  passengers  dozed  more  or  less ;  but  I  could 
not  sleep.  My  long  legs  placed  me  at  a  great  disadvant- 
age, as  they  became  so  painful  from  the  interruption  of  cir- 
culation by  being  squeezed  together  in  one  position  all  the 
time,  that  I  could  not  rest.  I  looked  anxiously  for  the 
stations,  just  to  give  me  a  few  minutes  to  straighten  myself 


60  INDIANS  DRIVE  IN  THE   CAVALRY. 

out  and  get  up  a  little  motion  of  the  blood.  The  night 
passed  without  any  event  of  interest,  and  soon  after  sun- 
rise we  arrived  at  Julesburg — a  little  town  of  three  build- 
ings, all  rude  frame  shanties.  At  Fort  Sedgwick  there 
were  ovei  one  thousand  troops  stationed ;  but  they  were 
unfitted  for  any  service  that  could  give  protection  to  the 
route.  The  men  were  unmounted,  and,  beyond  protecting 
themselves  and  their  officers,  they  are  of  no  possible  use 
in  the  West.  I  called  on  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
fort,  to  ascertain  whether  he  had  any  authentic  informa- 
tion relative  to  Indian  depredations  on  the  route.  Colonel 
Dodge  (formerly  Assistant  Provost  Marshal  at  Harris- 
burg)  was  in  command ;  but,  as  it  was  only  eight  o'clock, 
he  had  not  yet  made  his  toilet.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry 
sent  him  by  an  officer,  he  answered  that  the  Indians  had 
broken  the  telegraph-line  the  day  before,  some  fifteen  miles 
west,  but  he  considered  it  safe  for  the  stage  to  proceed.  I 
did  not  ask  for  an  escort, — although  by  an  official  letter  I 
bore  I  could  have  commanded  it, — for  the  reason  that  the 
practical  men  on  the  route,  the  drivers  and  passengers 
who  were  familiar  with  both  soldiers  and  Indians,  pre- 
ferred not  to  have  an  escort.  A  large  escort  cannot  be 
given ;  a  small  one  would  be  useless  under  any  circum- 
stances; and  the  Indians,  I  learn,  don't  care  much  for 
ordinary  escorts,  whether  large  or  small.  After  breakfast 
we  passed  on  until  we  came  to  the  second  station,  at  a 
ranch  kept  by  "  Buffalo  John,"  where  we  met  the  tele- 
graph operator  and  his  escort,  consisting  of  a  squad  of 
cavalry.  He  had  been  out  repairing  the  line  supposed  to 
have  been  broken  by  the  Indians,  and  reported  that  he  had 
seen  a  large  body  of  them,  probably  a  hundred  ;  and  the 
officer  who  commanded  the  squad  added  that  he  had  seen 
fully  a  hundred,  and  had  been  fired  upon  and  chased  into 
the  ranch.  They  said  that  these  hostile  demonstrations 


THE  STAGE  PASSES  IN  SAFETY.  61 

had  been  made  about  two  miles  ahead  on  our  road.  I 
asked  the  officer  whether  he  considered  it  safe  for  the 
stage  to  proceed.  "All  safe;  they  won't  attack  the  stage," 
he  answered.  He  deemed  it  unsafe  for  a  body  of  armed 
and  mounted  troops  to  be  there,  but  considered  it  safe  for 
three  ladies  and  six  gentlemen  to  go  over  the  route.  I 
suggested  that  probably  we  had  better  detail  a  mixed 
guard  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  from  the  stage  to  protect 
the  troops  ;  but  he  walked  off  as  if  he  really  considered  me 
insolent.  v/ 

With  the  cavalry  skulking  in  and  about  the  whisky-mill, 
we  all  decided  to  proceed,  as  the  driver  insisted  that  the 
soldiers  were  not  to  be  believed,  and  that  the  telegraphic 
operator  was  never  known  to  tell  the  truth.  He  probably 
put  his  point  a  little  strong,  but  he  certainly  did  not  be- 
lieve the  report,  positive  and  circumstantial  as  it  was,  and 
so  on  we  went.  The  driver  was  a  cool,  intelligent,  de- 
termined man,  an  old  resident  of  the  Indian  country,  and 
he  was  very  positive  that  we  should  proceed  ;  and  as  to  an 
escort,  he  didn't  want  to  have  it  about  him.  He  suggested, 
however,  that  it  was  barely  possible  we  might  meet  with 
Indians,  and  if  so,  he  named  the  place  where  they  would 
attack.  At  his  request,  four  of  us,  with  repeating  rifles, 
took  the  top  of  the  coach.  I  sat  beside  him  on  the  driver's 
boot,  and  three  others,  with  well-loaded  rifles,  lay  on  the 
baggage.  About  three  miles  west  of  the  station,  the  road 
runs  close  to  the  river,  in  a  low,  narrow  flat,  and  a  series 
of  broken  bluffs  come  close  to  the  road.  The  driver  held  his 
lines  with  perfect  steadiness,  but  did  not  wholly  conceal 
the  apprehension  he  felt  that,  after  all,  there  might  be  In- 
dians about.  "  Watch  well  for  their  heads,  front  and  rear, 
and  don't  let  them  get  the  first  fire,"  was  his  advice;  and 
we  did  watch  well.  Every  rifle  in  and  about  the  stage 
was  cocked  and  pointed  toward  the  bluffs,  and  fifty  balls 


62  QUICKSAND   AND   SAND-GNATS. 

could  have  been  fired  without  stopping  to  reload.  The 
driver  showed  his  appreciation  of  strategy  by  keeping  as 
close  to  the  river  as  possible,  thus  giving  the  bluffs  a  wide 
berth.  There  was  scarcely  a  word  spoken  by  any  while 
passing  the  bluffs,  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile ;  and 
all  breathed  freely  again  when  they  receded  behind  us. 
"I  knowed  he  was  a  d d  liar,"  was  the  brief  but  ex- 
pressive remark  of  the  driver  as  he  whirled  his  long  lash 
over  his  six  gay  horses  and  made  his  silken  cracker 
rend  out  its  sharp,  keen  music.  About  three  o'clock 
we  stopped  at  "  Riverside  Ranch,"  and  did  justice  to  a 
good  dinner.  Here  we  came  into  the  sandy  region. 
For  twenty-five  miles  the  road  is  mostly  over  a  bed  of 
deep  quicksand,  and  three  miles  an  hour  with  a  heavily- 
loaded  coach  is  good  time.  It  is  a  much  greater  impedi- 
ment than  mud,  and  is,  besides,  very  oppressive  upon  pas- 
sengers. The  fine  sand  keeps  a  perpetual  cloud  about  the 
coach,  and  penetrates  the  eyes,  ears,  nose,  mouth,  hair,  and 
clothes,  and,  impregnated  as  it  is  with  alkali,  it  makes 
every  one  most  uncomfortable.  Nor  do  its  torments  stop 
with  itself.  It  has  an  ally  of  innumerable  little  sand- 
gnats,  so  small  as  to  be  hardly  perceptible,  and  they  get 
in  the  hair  and  under  the  clothing,  and  bite  much  worse 
than  even  Western  mosquitoes.  We  bore  all,  however, 
with  commendable  fortitude  and  patience,  and  finally  got 
out  again  on  good  road,  only  to  find  the  ruins  of  the 
"  American  Station,"  burnt  by  the  Indians  but  a  few  nights 
before.  It  was  not  by  any  means  a  pleasant  reminder  of 
the  perils  of  the  trip.  But  it  is  wonderful  how  people  can 
become  used  to  almost  anything.  Even  the  old  woman's 
traditionary  eels  got  used  to  skinning;  and  we  had  cer- 
tainly become  used  to  Indian  rumors.  The  ladies  were 
not  the  least  heroic  of  the  party,  and  had  their  revolvers 
ready  to  aid  in  the  common  defense  in  case  the  war  should 


SUPPER    WITH  "OLD    WICKED."  63 

come  to  close  quarters.  From  the  gravest  apprehensions 
felt  by  all  at  first,  the  Indian  question  became  one  fruitful 
of  jokes,  although  there  were  some  grim  smiles  at  times 
as  the  loss  of  a  scalp  was  made  the  theme  of  wit.  At  last 
we  ceased  to  borrow  trouble  about  the  Indians,  and  as 
night  drew  her  sable  curtains  about  us,  most  of  the  party 
were  ready  for  sleep. 

About  half-past  eleven  we  drove  up  before  the  ranch  of 
"  Old  Wicked,"  one  of  the  home  stations  of  the  route.  We 
were  due  there  for  supper  about  six,  but  a  heavy  load  and 
bad  roads  had  detained  us.  No  one  wanted  supper  at 
that  late  hour,  but  we  concluded  that  "  Old  Wicked  "  was 
entitled  to  a  benefit,  and  seven  of  us  answered  to  the  call 
for  supper.  We  had  to  wait  for  it  to  be  cooked,  and  I  was 
glad  to  have  an  hour  with  the  proprietor.  His  name  is 
Hollen  Godfrey,  and  he  is  the  most  noted  Indian-fighter 
on  the  Plains.  He  was  the  only  man  on  the  Platte  Plains 
who  defended  and  saved  his  ranch  in  the  raid  of  1865. 
He  and  three  others  defended  it  against  one  hundred  and 
sixty  Indians  for  half  a  day,  killed  over  a  dozen  of  them, 
and  finally  compelled  them  to  raise  the  siege.  The  Indians 
named  him  "  Old  Wicked,"  and  by  that  name  he  has  since 
been  known.  He  has  a  sod  fortification  connected  with 
his  ranch,  and  defending  it  at  all  points,  and  he  proposes  to 
do  his  own  fighting  in  his  own  way.  He  hopes  to  have  a 
brush  with  them  this  summer ;  but  the  general  judgment 
of  all  along  the  line  is  that  if  an  Indian  raid  is  made, 
"  Old  Wicked  "  will  not  be  honored  with  a  call.  lie  iruve 
us  a  good  supper;  and  I  was  so  entertained  by  his  modest 
but  intelligent  history  of  our  Indian  difficulties,  that  not 
until  the  driver's  whip  cracked  after  several  calls  of  "  all 
aboard  "  did  I  bid  him  good-by  and  get  into  the  coach.  I 
must  tell  more  of  him  at  another  time. 

We.  had  nothing  of  special  interest  after  leaving  "  Old 


64  ARRIVAL  AT  DENVER. 

Wicked "  until  we  came  near  "  Living  Spring "  station, 
within  forty-five  miles  of  this  city.  One  of  the  station- 
keepers  informed  us  that  he  had  seen  ten  Indians  that  day, 
evidently  spies,  who  were  planning  the  capture  of  the 
station  and  horses,  and  he  said  that  he  would  remain  no 
longer.  We  had  become  so  used  to  frightened  station-men 
and  military  reports  that  we  did  not  even  take  the  trouble 
to  discuss  the  probable  correctness  of  the  story.  Dinner 
was  just  ahead  of  us  at  "  Living  Spring  " — the  only  spring 
I  have  heard  of  during  a  journey  of  nearly  six  hundred 
miles ;  and  I  was  glad  to  find  one  oasis  in  this  parched 
plain  where  fresh  water  gave  life  to  vegetation.  From 
thence  to  Denver  the  scenery  is  grand  indeed.  The  Rocky 
Mountains  are  in  full  view,  with  their  eternal  snow-clad 
peaks,  the  prairie  is  broken  by  gentle  undulations,  habita- 
tions begin  to  show  some  of  the  signs  of  civilization,  and 
here  and  there  are  irrigated  gardens  which  are  beginning 
to  bloom  with  life  and  beauty.  It  was  a  grateful  change 
from  the  flat,  hot,  monotonous  valley  of  the  Platte,  and 
we  were  all  more  than  rejoiced  when,  stiff  and  sore,  we 
were  landed  at  the  Pacific  Hotel  in  Denver.  Of  Denver 
and  Colorado  I  will  write  hereafter.  I  find  the  road 
through  the  mountains  almost  impassable,  and  while  it  is 
improving  I  will  spend  a  week  in  the  mining  regions  of 
Colorado.  I  go  to  Central  City,  Idaho,  and  Empire,  on 
Monday  and  Tuesday. 


LETTER    VII. 

Efforts  to  understand  the  Indian  Question. — The  Western  De- 
mand for  Chivington  or  Conner. — "Western  Contempt  for  the 
Regular  Army. — Why  Regulars  do  not  fight  Indians  success- 
fully.— Advantages  of  the  Indians  in  a  Summer  Campaign. — 
The  Monuments  of  Indian  Warfare. — The  Platte  Valley  Raid 
of  1865. — Horrible  Cruelties  of  the  Savages. — Hollen  Godfrey, 
or  "Old  Wicked." — His  Defense  of  his  Ranch. — A  Supper  with 
him,  and  his  Story  of  his  Fight. — His  Solution  of  the  Indian 
Problem. — He  regards  Indians  as  Peaceable  when  they  are  Dead. 
— How  Indians  conduct  Campaigns. — Their  Signals  and  Spies. 
— There  must  be  Peace. — It  will  be  the  Peace  of  Death  to  the 
Indian. — The  Harney  and  Chivington  Wars. 

DENVER,  COLORADO,  May  13,  1867. 

EVER  since  I  reached  the  Missouri,  at  Omaha,  I  have 
been  laboring  most  industriously  to  get  something  like  a 
correct  understanding  of  the  causes,  progress,  and  probable 
results  of  the  present  Indian  war.  It  would  seem  natural 
that  the  officer  commanding  a  department  should  be  best 
informed,  and  two  days  with  General  Augur,  who  kindly 
allowed  me  access  to  his  maps,  data  of  the  various  tribes, 
reports  of  the  Indian  Commission  and  of  scouts,  gave  me, 
as  I  supposed,  a  reasonably  accurate  idea  of  the  condition 
of  affairs.  After  leaving  Omaha,  I  made  it  a  point  to 
gather  all  the  information  I  could  from  every  available 
source,  without  regard  to  the  prejudices  which  might  par- 
tially or  wholly  neutralize  the  truth.  Ranchmen,  drivers, 
station-keepers,  train-men,  and  freighters  have,  after  all, 
the  best  practical  ideas  of  Indians,  and  it  is  remarkable 

t  (65) 


66  CONTEMPT  FOR   THE  REGULAR  ARMY. 

how  universal  is  their  contempt  for  military  campaigns. 
"  Give  us  Chivington  or  Conner"  is  the  answer  to  all  ques- 
tions as  to  how  peace  may  be  attained ;  and  I  have  not 
found  one  resident  or  habitual  traveler  of  the  plains  who 
does  not  demand  extermination.  Their  testimony  is  fear- 
fully concurrent  that  there  can  be  no  peace  while  the  gov- 
ernment negotiates  with  the  Indians  and  treats  prisoners 
in  accordance  with  the  usage  of  civilized  warfare.  Next 
to  the  Indians,  the  residents  and  sojourners  of  the  Platte 
Yalley  west  of  the  railroad  have  the  greatest  contempt  for 
soldiers  of  the  regular  army.  They  say  that  such  troops 
fear  the  Indians,  and  will  not  fight  them.  They  have  no 
private  wrongs  to  avenge.  They  have  had  no  friends 
butchered,  no  wives  or  children  scalped  or  tortured,  and 
they  know  that  they  are  exposed  to  all  the  atrocities  prac- 
ticed by  the  Indians,  while  they  are  compelled  to  fight 
them  as  if  they  were  humane  and  chivalrous.  Is  it  not 
natural  that  soldiers  of  the  regular  army,  who  fight  me- 
chanically, should  be  inefficient  in  a  campaign  against  In- 
dians? However  extravagant  may  be  the  views  of  the 
Platte  Yalley  residents  as  to  the  folly  of  .regular  military 
campaigns,  it  must  be  confessed  that  their  logic  is  more 
easy  to  overrule  than  to  answer.  No  one  here  doubts 
that  Generals  Augur  and  Hancock  are  doing,  and  will  do, 
all  that  is  in  their  power  under  their  orders ;  but  the  con- 
viction is  just  as  universal  that  they  cannot  even  protect 
the  great  thoroughfares  to  the  West,  much  less  bring  the 
savages  to  peace,  by  military  success.  They  might  pro- 
tect the  two  great  routes  across  the  continent  if  they  were 
instructed  to  do  nothing  else;  but  when  they  are  directed 
to  divide  their  forces,  and  make  offensive  movements  north 
and  south  of  the  Platte,  they  must  fail  to  protect  the  routes 
behind  them,  and  also  fail  to  gain  any  decided  success  in 
the  field.  Every  day  I  have  spent  in  the  Indian  country 


WHY  REGULARS  ARE  NOT  SUCCESSFUL.          07 

has  but  confirmed  the  opinion  I  expressed  in  my  first  let- 
ter from  Omaha — that  there  will  not  be  a  decisive  battle 
fought  this  season  by  either  General  Augur  or  General 
Hancock,  and  that  the  so-called  Indian  war  will  be  but  a 
war,  on  the  side  of  the  Indians,  by  fleet  bands  of  warriors 
against  weak  posts  and  isolated  commands ;  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  add  that  there  will  be  ten  or,  more  likely, 
twenty  whites  butchered  for  every  Indian  killed  by  the 
troops. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  intending  to  reflect  upon  the 
capacity  or  efforts  of  our  military  commanders.  They  can- 
not do  impossible  things;  and  I  assure  your  readers  that 
what  is  expected  of  them  generally  in  the  East,  and  I  pre- 
sume by  the  government,  is  as  impossible,  under  existing 
circumstances,  as  would  be  a  campaign  against  the  deni- 
zens of  the  moon.  It  is  conceded  that  there  are  some  hun- 
dreds, and  probably  over  a  thousand,  hostile  Indians  on  the 
Republican  Fork.  It  is  the  central  line  between  the 
Smoky  Hill  and  the  Platte  routes,  and  an  excellent  base  to 
operate  in  every  direction  against  the  lines  of  travel  and 
against  the  settlers.  They  can  strike  the  Platte  route  for 
several  hundred  miles  in  one  day's  ride,  and  the  Smoky 
Hill  is  equally  accessible.  Of  their  movements  no  one 
can  be  advised.  They  will  burn  a  station  on  Smoky  Hill 
one  day,  and  the  next  strike  the  Platte.  Within  the  last 
week  they  have  made  two  raids  on  the  Platte,  and  two  or 
more  on  the  Smoky  Hill.  The  country  they  occupy  is 
held  solely  by  hostile  tribes.  Spotted  Tail  and  Swift  Bear, 
with  their  followers,  crossed  the  Platte  northward  on  Fri- 
day, a  few  miles  below  Julesburg,  so  that  the  Republican 
region  is  now  entirely  in  possession  of  the  hostile  Chey- 
ennes  and  Sioux.  Spotted  Tail  and  his  followers  were 
located  there  but  a  month  ago  by  General  Sully,  but  the 
incursion  of  the  hostile  tribes  compelled  him  to  leave,  as 


68        HORRIBLE  CRUELTIES   OF  THE  SAVAGES. 

he  reports,  or  allow  half  his  young  warriors  to  be  seduced 
into  war.  He  has,  therefore,  left  for  the  north,  and  not 
entirely  pleased  because  the  government  agents  or  com- 
manders would  not  allow  his  young  warriors  to  fight  the 
Pawnees  a  little  occasionally,  "for  fun."  I  find  that  the 
residents  all  along  the  route,  as  well  as  the  people  of  Den- 
ver, have  no  faith  whatever  in  Spotted  Tail,  and  they  pre- 
dict he  will  be  on  the  war-path,  or  at  least  part  of  his  tribe 
with  his  consent,  before  another  month.  It  is  not  ques- 
tioned that  in  his  lodges  are  quite  a  number  who  were 
concerned  in  the  Fort  Phil.  Kearney  massacre;  and  yet  no 
effort  has  been  made  to  have  them  surrendered  to  justice, 
lest  it  might  force  all  of  them  into  war.  I  must  agree 
with  the  Western  people,  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  demand  the 
summary  and  relentless  punishment  of  all  Indians  who 
have  countenanced  or  participated  in  the  butchery  of  cap- 
tives ;  and,  if  it  should  make  a  thousand  more  warriors  for 
a  time,  hundreds  of  lives  would  be  saved  in  the  end. 

The  evidences  of  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  our  sys- 
tem of  warfare  against  Indians  are  not  confined  to  the 
opinions  and  prejudices  of  the  settlers.  I  saw  for  throe 
hundred  miles  along  the  route,  from  North  Platte  to  Den- 
ver, the  mute  but  terribly  eloquent  monuments  of  savage 
warfare.  But  a  little  more  than  two  years  ago,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1865,  the  Indians  raided  the  entire  Platte  line,  from 
Denver  almost  to  Atchison,  and  spared  neither  age,  s.ex, 
nor  condition.  There  were  not  three  ranches  between  this 
and  North  Platte  that  escaped — indeed,  I  know  of  but  one. 
A  portion  of  the  ranchmen  and  station-keepers  escaped,  but 
not  one  man  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  savages  Jived  to 
tell  the  story  of  his  capture.  His  scalp  graced  the  belt  of 
some  brave,  and  was  carried  home  to  win  the  favor  of  some 
dusky  daughter  of  the  forest.  Every  ranch  and  station  be- 
tween this  and  Julesburg  was  captured  and  burned,  with  a 


HOLLEN  GODFREY.  69 

single  exception ;  the  men,  women,  and  children  who  did  not 
escape  were  inhumanly  butchered,  and  nothing  was  left  to 
show  that  the  country  had  ever  been  inhabited  but  the 
charred  walls  of  the  mud  hovels.  At  Julesburg  they  burned 
the  station  and  warehouse,  within  range  of  the  guns  of 
Fort  Sedgwick,  in  open  day,  and  not  a  gun  was  fired,  nor  an 
effort  made  to  arrest  the  appalling  atrocities  which  traced 
their  line  of  march.  How  much  the  garrison  of  the  fort 
could  have  effected,  had  they  tried,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say ; 
but  that  they  did  not  try,  lest  they  might  provoke  an  at- 
tack by  largely  superior  numbers  on  the  fort,  is  the  truth 
of  history.  In  sublime  contrast  with  the  action  of  the 
military  was  the  heroism  of  several  ranchmen  some  fifty 
miles  east  of  Julesburg.  The  Indians  had  passed  all  the 
military  on  the  route  without  losing  a  man,  and  had  left 
no  habitation  or  resident  behind  them  except  the  troops, 
until  they  encircled  the  ranch  of  Hollen  Godfrey,  a  native 
of  Western  New  York,  but  an  old  resident  of  the  Indian 
country.  I  supped  with  him  a  few  nights  ago,  and  had 
his  story  from  himself.  He  gave  it  with  a  degree  of  mod- 
esty and  candor  that  stripped  the  popular  history  of  the 
affair  of  some  of  its  romance ;  but  that  he  gave  it  truthfully 
there  could  be  no  doubt.  He  is  an  intelligent,  keen-eyed 
and  brawny-armed  man  of  over  fifty,  and  makes  no  pre- 
tensions to  the  heroic ;  but  he  does  pretend  to  protect  his 
little  store  of  whisky,  tobacco,  canned  fruits,  and  notions, 
and  his  wife  and  children;  and,  more  than  that,  he  docs  it. 
He  has  a  sod  fortification  running  along  the  south  and 
west  sides  of  his  raach,  and  extending  out  some  six  feet 
front  and  rear,  so  as  to  protect  two  sides  of  the  building 
and  command  the  other  two.  His  fort  is  but  a  sod  wall, 
six  feet  high,  with  loop-holes,  but  it  is  an  infinitely  better 
fortification  than  the  scientific  officers  of  Fort  Sedgwick 
have  to  protect  that  post.  One  hundred  and  sixty  warriors 

7* 


70  DEFENSE   OF  GODFREY  RANCH. 

attacked  the  Godfrey  Ranch,  but,  as  it  was  defended,  they 
exhausted  Indian  strategy  to  reduce  it.  There  were  but 
four  men  and  two  women  in  the  ranch,  but  they  had  sev- 
eral guns  each,  and  plenty  of  ammunition.  The  Indians 
first  formed  a  circle  about  the  ranch,  at  a  distance  of  four 
hundred  yards,  and  endeavored  to  draw  Godfrey's  fire,  so 
as  to  get  his  range  ;  but  he  never  pulled  a  trigger  until  he 
had  an  Indian  within  two  hundred  yards.  "  My  favorite 
double-barrel  ain't  sure  at  over  two  hundred  yards,"  he  in- 
formed me,  "  and  I  had  no  ammunition  to  waste."  Judging 
that  they  could  not  accomplish  anything  without  a  direct 
attack,  they  selected  thirty  of  their  fleetest  riders,  and 
charged  to  within  thirty  yards  of  the  ranch,  in  single  file, 
each  one  firing,  and  wheeling  at  the  nearest  point.  They 
made  several  such  charges,  each  time  selecting  different 
loop-holes  for  their  fire ;  but  they  harmed  no  one,  and  one 
or  more  of  the  charging  thirty  fell  in  each  attack.  Finally 
they  abandoned  the  direct  attack,  and  fired  the  grass  at 
various  points,  hoping  to  set  the  ranch  on  fire.  At  one 
point  they  had  forced  the  fire  close  to  the  stable;  but 
Godfrey  could  reach  the  endangered  corner  under  cover, 
to  extinguish  the  fire.  Sixty  balls  struck  the  corner  of  the 
stable  where  he  was  working;  but  he  managed  to  protect 
himself,  and  escaped  unharmed.  The  siege  was  maintained, 
with  occasional  charges,  until  night,  when  they  were  glad 
to  abandon  the  ranch  and  leave  their  dead  behind  them. 
Wherever  a  dead  Indian  lay,  Godfrey  kept  special  watch, 
knowing  that  they  would  make  every  effort  to  ,get  their 
dead  off  the  field,  and  shot  .severaV^bo  attempted  to  re- 
move their  fallen  comrades,  until  they  finally  surrendered 
their  dead  braves  as  trophies  for  the  victor.  They  gave 
Godfrey  the  euphonious  sobriquet  of  "Old  Wicked,"  and 
since  then  he  is  known  only  by  that  name.  His  ranch  is 
called  " Fort  Wicked  "sad  his  actual  name  of  Hollen  (Jed- 


MASSACRES  BY  THE  INDIANS.  71 

frey  is  almost  forgotten.  He  is  now  expecting  another 
raid,  as  do  all  ranchmen  on  the  line,  and  he  is  the  only 
man  I  have  found  whose  face  seems  to  brighten  as  he 
speaks  of  the  probability  of  "  another  brush"  with  them, 
as  he  calls  it.  I  made  a  careful  examination  of  his  armory. 
It  contains  eighteen  rifles,  from  the  old  hunter's  to  the  most 
improved  Spencer  and  Sharpe.  All  are  loaded,  and  ready 
for  the  combat  at  a  moment's  warning.  When  we  arrived 
it  was  nearly  midnight,  and  the  old  man  was  on  guard  him- 
self, in  front  of  his  ranch,  armed  with  a  Spencer  rifle. 
Night  or  day  his  ranch  is  never  without  a  sentinel,  and 
surprise  is  impossible.  The  general  belief  of  the  ranch- 
men is,  that  when  the  Indians  do  come,  they  will  not  mo- 
lest "  Old  Wicked."  At  the  American  Ranch,  two  miles 
east  of  Godfrey's,  five  men,  one  woman,  and  a  child  were 
residing,  who  fought  the  Indians  until  they  had  killed 
eleven  ;  but  they  were  finally  overpowered,  the  five  men 
were  scalped,  and  the  woman  was  carried  off  to  suffer  worse 
than  a  thousand  deaths  from  Indian  violence  and  torture. 
At  the  Wisconsin  Ranch,  the  next  on  the  line  east,  two 
men  defended  it  successfully  until  night,  killing-  half  a 
score  of  their  savage  assailants;  but  their  ammunition  was 
nearly  exhausted,  and  they  escaped  to  the  river  under  cover 
of  darkness,  and  passed  down  safely  on  the  ice.  These 
three  ranches  are  famed  in  the  Platte  Valley  as  the  only 
places  where  Indian  assaults  were  made  bloody  victories 
or  disastrous  defeats  in  the  winter  of  1865.  From  the 
Wisconsin  Ranch  east,  clear  down  below  Fort  Kearney, 
there  was  not  a  li^ng  man  or  woman  left,  excepting  the 
f'e\v  who  made  miraculous  escapes  by  flight.  The  stage 
did  not  run  through  for  six  weeks ;  but  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion set  in  as  usual  in  the  spring,  and  new  ranchmen  and 
station-men  occupied  the  line,  rebuilt  their  sod  hovels  and 
stables,  gave  the  ghastly,  mutilated  dead  decent  sepulture, 


72  UOW  INDIANS   CONDUCT  CAMPAIGNS. 

and  from  that  time  until  now  have  lived  in  comparative 
safety. 

At  present  the  signs  of  an  early  and  fearful  outbreak  on 
this  line  are  unmistakable,  unless  General  Hancock  can 
dislodge  the  hostile  tribes  from  the  Republican  River. 
That  they  occupy  the  country  from  the  Republican  north 
to  the  Platte  Valley  is  evident  to  all.  They  can  see  every 
train,  and  every  military  movement  in  the  valley,  without 
exposing  themselves  even  to  discovery.  The  unbroken 
range  of  bluffs  which  skirt  the-  valley  on  the  south  com- 
mand a  complete  view  of  the  entire  Platte  region.  Their 
spies  occupy  the  bluffs  constantly,  and,  as  they  have  good 
field-glasses,  which  they  purchase  from  the  traders,  they 
can  distinguish  every  movement  for  twenty  miles.  It 
seems  impossible  to  Eastern  readers  that  they  can  so 
readily  ascertain  every  movement;  but  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  a  train  can  be  seen  distinctly  on  the  plain  ten 
miles  distant  with  the  naked  eye,  it  needs  no  argument  to 
prove  that  the  Indians,  with  good  glasses,  know  every 
military  movement  as  soon  as  it  is  commenced.  During 
all  of  last  week  they  were  signaling  from  the  Southern 
Bluffs  southward  toward  the  Republican.  They  signal 
easily  for  twenty  miles  with  a  lighted  arrow,  which  they 
shoot  into  the  air,  and  they  can  give  any  communication 
from  bluff  to  bluff  in  that  way.  ~  During  the  day  they 
signal  by  various  methods.  Sometimes  they  do  so  with  a 
pocket  looking-glass.  They  get  the  focus  of  the  sun,  make 
the  reflection  visible  for  miles,  and  thus  direct  the  move- 
ments of  various  parties  to  such  points  as  they  may  wish. 

I  have  thus  minutely  described  the  position  and  action 
of  the  Indians  to  show  how  utterly  fruitless  must  be  In- 
dian campaigns.  Suppose  General  Hancock  should  move 
north  toward  the  Republican.  They  can  keep  twenty 
miles  in  advance  of  him,  and  learn  his  whereabouts  every 


THERE  MUST  BE  PEACE.  73 

hour  in  the  twenty-four.  If  they  find  his  command  divided 
and  part  of  it  vulnerable,  they  will  assail  and  overwhelm 
it.  If  not,  they  will  retreat  toward  the  Platte,  and  per- 
haps by  the  time  he  gets  to  the  Platte -they  will  be  in  his 
rear  on  the  Republican  again,  and  no  one  but  themselves 
cognizant  of  their  whereabouts.  Equally  futile  would  be 
a  movement  from  north  of  the  Platte.  They  know  to-day 
within  fifty  of  the  number  of  troops  at  Fort  Sedgwick 
(Julesburg),  and  those  troops  cannot  be  moved  in  any 
direction  without  the  spies  on  the  bluffs  signaling  their 
numbers  and  direction,  every  hour  in  the  day  and  night, 
clear  to  the  Republican  if  necessary ;  and,  should  General 
Potter  (in  command  at  Sedgwick)  move  south  to  the  Re- 
publican, the  foe  would  retreat  before  him,  keeping  out  of 
sight,  and,  when  necessary,  they  would  flank  him  east  or 
west,  and  could  capture  the  entire  Platte  route  and  be  hid 
again  before  he  could  bring  back  his  command.  I  have 
given  the  facts  relative  to  our  Indian  campaign,  and  I  leave 
it  to  your  intelligent  readers  to  determine  how  much  the 
military  are  likely  to  do  this  season  toward  re-establish- 
ing peace  on  our  great  thoroughfares. 

But  there  must  be  peace  at  any  price  on  the  Plains;  and 
how  is  it  to  be  attained?  This  is  the  great  vexed  ques- 
tion which  the  government  is  laboring  to  solve.  Through- 
out the  West,  the  ready  answer  is  on  every  tongue.  Re- 
call General  Conner,  give  Chivington  a  command,  and 
let  them  assail  the  Indians  wherever  they  can  be  found. 
The  preference  expressed  for  Conner  and  Chivington  has 
its  existence  in  the  fact  that  they  fought  Indians  as  In- 
dians light  white  men — attack  all  they  meet,  and  don't 
encumber  themselves  with  prisoners.  "Old  Wicked"  as- 
sured me  that  five  hundred  Colorado  volunteers,  under  an 
acceptable  commander,  would  not  leave  a  hostile  Cheyenne 
or  Sioux  between  the  Platte  and  Smoky  Hill  in  two 


74        PEACE  WILL  BE  DEATH  TO   THE  INDIAN. 

months'  time.  "Where  would  they  be?"  I  asked  him. 
"In  hell,"  was  the  characteristic  reply.  "But  are  there 
none  of  them  peaceable  ?"  I  ventured  to  ask.  "  Yes,  when 
they're  dead,"  was  the  significant  answer.  And  yet  he 
confesses  that  the  difficulties  do  not  rest  wholly  with  the 
Indians.  "  They  have  been  greatly  wronged,"  he  said ; 
"robbed  by  agents,  killed  without  cause  by  thieves  and 
settlers ;  but  the  white  man  or  the  Indian  must  now  be 
driven  out,  and  we  can  best  spare  the  Indian."  Whatever 
may  be  the  views  of  the  government,  the  policy  of  the 
Western  settlers  will,  in  the  end,  make  peace ;  but  it  will 
be  the  peace  of  death.  The  government  will  not,  cannot, 
assume  to  exterminate  the  Indian.  It  cannot  make  war 
upon  squaws  and  papooses ;  but  such  war  will  come,  and 
it  will  be  effectual.  The  government  may  protest;  it  may 
even  exercise  its  power  to  shield  the  Indian  and  the  fame 
of  the  nation  from  savage  warfare ;  but  in  the  mean  time 
every  centre  of  Indian  hostilities  will  have  its  Sand  Creek, 
and  every  section  will  have  its  Chivington.  A  single 
massacre  now,  in  any  of  the  mining  regions,  would  result 
in  the  destruction  of  every  Indian  within  range  of  the 
miners.  They  would  organize  independent  rangers,  select 
their  own  leaders,  arm  and  provision  themselves,  and  their 
trophies  would  be  only  Indian  skeletons  bleaching  on  their 
path.  Thus  is  Montana  moving  now  since  the  murder  of 
Bozeman,  and  so  will  Colorado  act  whenever  the  provoca- 
tion comes.  The  military  will  come  after  the  rangers, 
and  keep  up  the  semblance  of  civilized  warfare;  but  the 
Indian  will  wade  through  the  blood  of  his  race  to  entire 
submission  and  peace,  or  he  will  finally  end  his  history  as 
he  falls  before  the  pursuit  of  the  outraged  and  merciless 
settler. 

I  speak  of  what  will  be,  and  not  of  what  should  be.     It 
will  be  a  fearful  chapter  when  rea.d  from  the  opening  to 


THE  HARNEY  AND    CIIIVINGTON    WARS.          75 

the  close ;  but  the  white  man  will  know  only  of  the  neces- 
sity for  relentless  warfare  against  the  red  man,  while  his 
wrongs  to  the  savage  will  be  without  a  faithful  historian. 
We  find  that  these  lands  have  gold  or  timber,  and  we  want 
great  thoroughfares  through  them.  The  whites  pass  on 
without  treaties,  with  their  rifles  in  their  hands,  and  they 
make  might  right.  The  Indian  is  indolent,  thriftless,  ami 
naturally  a  thief.  He  steals  a  horse  or  a  cow,  and  they 
are  paid  for  by  a  war  upon  his  tribe  by  the  settlers  or 
miners.  He  takes  the  war-path,  spares  neither  innocent 
nor  guilty,  and  the  government  is  obliged  to  recognize  an 
Indian  war.  Campaigns  ensue,  usually  without  important 
military  results,  and  end  in  treaties  made  to  be  mutually 
violated  by  agents  on  the  part  of  the  government  and  by 
equally  debauched  Indians.  Mr.  Hooper,  Delegate  from 
Utah,  who  has  been  with  me  most  of  the  trip  thus  far, 
assured  me  that  the  Harney  war  was  the  result  of  the 
stealing  of  a  cow  from  a  train  of  Mormon  emigrants.  The 
owner  complained  to  the  officer  at  the  nearest  post,  and  a 
detail  was  made  to  recapture  the  cow ;  but  the  Indian 
chief  could  not  restore  her,  because  she  had  been  killed 
and  eaten.  He  could  not  surrender  the  guilty  parties, 
because  he  did  not  know  them ;  but  he  proposed  to  pay 
for  the  cow  in  horses.  The  officer  planted  a  gun  to  com- 
mand the  camp,  and  required  the  restoration  of  the  already 
butchered  and  eaten  cow  in  fifteen  minutes.  Of  course  it 
could  not  be  done,  and  he  opened  on  the  camp,  killing  the 
chief  and  many  others.  The  Indians  rallied,  and  killed 
and  scalped  the  officer  and  every  man  of  his  command. 
The  Harney  campaign  followed;  and  thus  a  cow  worth 
about  $17.50  cost  us  $1,000,000,  or  more,  and  many  hun- 
dreds of  lives.  The  Colorado*  war,  which  culminated  in 
the  Sandy  Creek  butchery  of  a  whole  Indian  camp,  in- 
cluding women  and  children,  had,  I  am  credibly  informed, 


76.     THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM   WILL   SOLVE  ITSELF. 

not  even  so  good  an  excuse  for  its  origin  as  the  loss  of  a 
cow.*  That  honesty  would  have  arrested  it  I  do  not 
doubt ;  but  when  once  started  it  had  to  reach  its  logical 
conclusion,  as  must  all  Indian  wars  be  decided,  in  meeting 
the  savage  with  his  own  shocking  savagery.  It  ended 
Indian  depredations  in  Sandy  Creek  by  exterminating  the 
Indians  in  that  section,  and  therefore  is  justified  or  excused. 
Thus  will  the  Indian  problem  solve  itself  in  time,  and  I  think 
speedily ;  and  while  he  may  live  in  future  story  and  song 
to  gild  the  romance  of  some  tale  or  sonnet,  there  will  be 
few  to  stop  and  lament  his  sad  fate,  as  the  resistless 
march  of  progress  appropriates  his  home  and  hunting 
grounds  to  his  pale-faced  oppressor. 

Of  Denver,  Central  City,  and  the  mining  regions  of 
Colorado,  I  will  speak  in  my  next.  I  start  for  the  mines 
to-morrow. 

*  I  give  these  statements  as  I  received  them  from  one  who 
warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Indians  in  all  our  wars.  At  the 
time  the  above  letter  was  written,  I  had  more  faith  in  the  Indian 
than  subsequent  observation  and  experience  sustained.  Still,  I 
prefer  to  give  the  letters  on  this  subject  as  originally  written. 


LETTER    VIII. 

A  Prolific  Subject  for  the  Letter-writer. — An  Afternoon  at  the 
Denver  Races. — An  Interesting  Race. — The  Value  of  a  Sport- 
ing Watch  discovered  — Denver  and  its  People. — Its  Experi- 
ence with  Desperadoes. — The  Fate  of  the  Steels. — The  Attack 
upon  Mr.  Byers. — Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon's  Blunders. — His  Hero 
Bob  Wilson. — The  Order,  Morality,  and  Advantages  of  Den- 
ver.— Character  of  Western  Settlers. — What  Sacrifices  they 
make,  and  how  poorly  requited.  —  The  Lark. — The  Prairie- 
dog  and  Owl. — The  Rattlesnake. — The  Indian  Troubles  again. 
— The  Overland  Route  closed  by  Savages  East  and  West. — In- 
dian Atrocities. — Western  Volunteers  the  Remedy. 

DENVER,  COLORADO,  May  14,  1867. 

THERE  is  so  much  here  that  is  entirely  novel  and  in- 
tensely interesting,  that  I  scarcely  know  where  to  begin  to 
write  and  where  to  stop.  With  all  the  jolting,  wedging, 
bruising,  and  blistering  of  the  trip,  I  have  written  seven 
long  letters  already,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  not 
told  half  of  what  I  would  wish  to  record.  Here  are  gold- 
fields,  vast  prairies,  fruitful  farms  systematically  irrigated, 
a  city  that  has  grown  from  nothing  in  less  than  a  decade, 
the  Roeky  Mountains  presenting  their  colossal  magnifi- 
cence to  the  eye  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  a 
thousand  and  one  things  and  incidents  which  crowd  upon 
my  pen;  but  time  and  space  demand  that  they  shall  be 
sparingly  touched. 

I  have  now  had  several  days  in  Denver,  have  tried  their 
horse-races,  their  theatre,  their  drives,  their  ehnrehes,  their 
reading-rooms,  their  stores,  and  had  a  gratifying  trial  of 

8  (77) 


•  78        AN  AFTERNOON  AT  THE  DENVER  RACES. 

their  hospitality,  and  all  seem  to  be  first-class.  It  is  true 
that  I  was  not  nearly  so  much  crowded  at  church  as  I  was 
at  the  race-course  and  at  the  theatre ;  but  it  is  possible  that 
most  of  the  people  were  at  the  other  churches.  On  Satur- 
day a  friend  drove  up  to  the  hotel  and  invited  Mrs.  McClure 
and" myself  to  accept  a  seat  in  his  carriage  for  the  races. 
His  wife  accompanied  him,  and  on  every  side  the  youth 
and  beauty  of  the  city  might  have  been  seen  driving  in 
the  same  direction.  Wishing  to  see  Denver  as  it  is,  we 
concluded  to  go,  and  soon  found  ourselves  on  a  splendid 
course  belonging  to  the  Agricultural  Society,  inclosed  by  a 
concrete  wall,  and  cleverly  filled  with  as  fine  turn-outs  as 
could  be  displayed  in  any  of  the  inland  cities  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Nor  was  the  crowd  confined  to  the  elegant  and 
fashionable.  Here  was  a  rude  mountaineer  on  an  Indian 
pony,  with  spurs  something  after  the  fashion  of  a  cogged 
cart-wheel ;  there  was  one  on  an  obstinate  mustang,  with 
blanket  and  buffalo  coat ;  and  there  were  hundreds  of 
others,  from  regular  sports,  boys  and  men,  to  the  staidest 
the  city  can  afford.  Deacons  and  vestrymen  act  as  judges, 
and  elders  time  the  horses  and  make  clever  side  bets  on 
their  favorites.  The  ladies  have  their  watches,  time  the 
horses,  and  are  most  enthusiastic  over  the  result.  This 
may  seem  odd  enough  far  East ;  but  they  tell  me  out  here 
that  they  don't  raffle,  as  the  churches  do  East,  and  they 
thank  the  Lord  that  they  are  not  as  other  men.  I  had 
never  seen  a  horse-race,  and  have  no  love  for  a  fast  horse. 
I  consider  a  2.40  horse  a  nuisance ;  and  I  went  to  the  course 
mechanically,  because  the  politeness  of  my  friend  required 
it.  I  hoped  that  it  would  be  brief,  but  in  this  I  was  dis- 
appointed. The  course  was  fixed  up  for  a  regular  after- 
noon's entertainment.  The  irrepressible  lager  beer  was 
dispensed  from  licensed  booths  within  the  inclosurc,  by  a 
regular  Reading  Dutchman,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen 


AN  INTERESTING  RACE.  79 

washed  down  the  clouds  of  dust  occasionally  by  taking  a 
draught  of  the  cooling  stimulant 

At  last  time  was  called,  and  we  drove  up  to  the  course 
along  with  hundreds  of  others,  and  prepared  ourselves  to 
enjoy  the  sport  as  much  as  possible.  It  was,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  an  entirely  original  sort  of  a  race.  The  best  horse 
did  not  run,  nor  did  the  fleetest  trotter  win.  The  purse 
was  offered  to  the  horse  that  could  trot  or  pace  a  mile  the 
nearest  to  three  minutes.  "  Lady  Alice,"  for  instance, 
trotted  it  in  2.44  and  lost,  because  another  horse  trotted  it 
in  3.1J.  After  several  rounds  had  been  made,  I  found 
myself  pulling  out  my  watch,  because  it  seemed  the  cus- 
tom, and,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  that  I  had  been  carrying 
for  several  years  the  best  watch  for  the  purpose  to  be  found 
on  the  ground.  I  could  time  to  the  one-fifth  of  a  second, 
and  in  a  little  while  my  watch  became  the  centre  of  interest 
for  all  the  amateur  sports  around  me,  of  both  sexes.  One 
heat  there  was  a  variance  between  the  report  of  the  judge 
and  the  report  of  my  watch — his  making  the  time  3.1J, 
while  mine  made  it  3.1f ;  and,  as  another  horse  had  been 
timed  at  3.1J,  the  discrepancy  between  the  two  watches 
led  to  the  repetition  of  the  race  between  the  two  horses, 
when  one  made  time  one-half  second  better  than  the  other. 
My  excellent  sporting  watch,  of  whose  valuable  qualities 
I  had  been  in  blissful  ignorance  until  then,  at  once  stamped 
me  as  a  first-class  sport,  and  I  was  recognized  by  most  of 
the  attendants  as  if  I  had  been  an  old  acquaintance.  In- 
deed, I  found  the  sport  by  no  means  hard  to  take,  and,  after 
I  got  into  it,  no  one  watched  the  runs  with  more  interest 
than  I  did.  I  was  fascinated  with  "  Lady  Alice," — cer- 
tainly the  most  graceful  trotter  and  most  amiable,  winning 
little  pony  I  have  ever  seen.  She  went  her  mile  without 
the  slightest  break,  and  would  have  made  it  in  2.30  but 
for  the  sly  admonition  of  bystanders,  who  kept  the  time, 


80  DENVER  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

that  she  was  going  too  fast.  She  is  perfectly  white,  not 
larger  than  a  good-sized  Indian  pony,  and  is  the  favorite 
of  men,  women,  and  children  in  Denver,  and  well  knows 
and  highly  appreciates  it.  Ladies  stop  to  caress  her  on 
the  streets,  and  children  fondle  her  as  they  would  a  house- 
hold pet.  In  spite  of  myself,  I  wanted  her  to  win,  and 
grieved  when  her  splendid  time  made  her  lose. 

Denver  is  a  clever  place,  and  has  clever,  substantial, 
thrifty  people.  I  have  seen  no  place  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi that  equals  it  in  the  elements  of  positive  prosperity. 
They  have  gone  through  the  severest  ordeal,  and  have 
come  out  purified  in  the  crucible  of  sad  experience.  They 
have  seen  the  day  when  gamblers,  cut-throats,  and  thieves 
controlled  everything — elected  their  municipal  officers, 
possessed  the  wealth  of  the  city,  intimidated  the  officers 
of  the  law,  and  held  high  carnival  in  their  work  of  robbery 
and  death.  But  crime  culminated,  as  it  ever  does,  and 
gave  birth  to  vigilance  committees,  which  made  a  n umber 
of  the  most  desperate  outlaws  dance  jigs  upon  nothing  on 
the  hill  hard  by.  Sometimes  they  would  give  them  the 
form  of  a  trial  by  an  improvised  court ;  but  the  poor  devil 
who  was  ever  brought  before  that  court  knew  that  his 
time  had  come.  At  other  times  they  would  determine 
upon  the  death  of  some  notorious  outlaw,  and  a  select 
party,  chosen  for  the  task,  would  "  go  for  him,"  as  they 
all  say  out  here,  and  a  hasty  funeral  was  sure  to  follow. 
One  fellow,  named  Steel,  took  offense,  several  years  ago, 
at  an  editorial  in  the  News,  and  rode  up  to  the  editorial 
office  and  fired  several  shots  at  Mr.  Byers,  the  editor,  while 
another  man  stood  off  some  distance  to  protect  the  assassin. 
A  simultaneous  hunt  was  made  for  Steel,  and  in  less  than 
half  an  hour  he  lay  on  the  pavement  dead,  having  breu 
shot  as  he  turned  a  corner  in  his  effort  to  escape.  Steel 
had  a  brother  who  resolved  to  take  the  life  of  the  man 


THE  FATE   OF  THE  STEELS.  81 

who  had  killed  him,  and  for  two  years  they  kept  a  lookout 
for  each  other.     Once  they  met  on  a  highway,  both  armed 
with  rifles,  but  Steel  was  not  the  first  to  recognize  his  foe, 
and,  when  he  did  recognize  him,  the  rifle  of  the  latter  was 
leveled.     He  did  not  fire,  however,  but  told  Steel  to  pass, 
which  he  did  in  safety,  with  a  "  dead  bead  "  drawn  on  him 
until  he  was   out  of  range.     Subsequently  they  met  in 
New  Mexico,  and  the  recognition  was  simultaneous;  both 
attempted  to  fire,  but  the  "drop"  was  got  on  Steel,  and 
he  shared  the  fate  of  his  brother,  and  from  the  same  hands. 
The  man  is  now  a  quiet,  respected  citizen  of  Denver,  and 
is  generally  beloved  for  exterminating  the  Steels.    Another 
murderer  was  hunted  by  the  vigilants  among  the  Indians, 
captured,  brought  back,  and  hung ;  and  a  man  named  Ford 
was  taken  from  the  coach  a  few  miles  east  of  the  city,  by 
a  company  of  the   vigilants,  shot  by  the  roadside,  and 
buried.     Who  did  it,  no   one   has  ever  inquired.     Many 
doubtless  could  guess,  while  some  certainly  know ;  but  it 
is  a  forbidden  topic.     Ford  had  to  die  to  give  peace  and 
security  to  Denver,  and  he  was  therefore  shot  like  a  dog. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  people  of  new  Territories,  who 
are   annoyed  by  the  usual  incursion  of  desperadoes,  make 
it  a  point  of  honor  not  to  banish  them  to  other  countries. 
They  consider  it  in  the  highest  degree  dishonorable,  and 
they  never  allow  it.     One  citizen  of  this  Territory,  other- 
wise highly  respected,  has  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people 
for  a  lifetime,  for  saving  the  life  of  a  bad  man  on  condition 
that  he  should  leave  the  country  forever.     "It's  a  pity," 
they  say — "  he's  a  clever  man,  but  ho  didn't  do  the  fair 
thing  in  getting  that  fellow  off."    Two  years  ago  they  had 
pretty  well  banished  the  characters  dangerous  to  the  peace 
and   safety  of  the  citizens;  but  the  orderly  gamblers  still 
controlled  the  municipality,  had  vast  wealth,  and  pursued 
their   shameless  vocation   in   open  day.     They  had  their 

8* 


82  ORDER  AND   MORALITY  IN  DENVER. 

gambling-houses  in  some  of  the  best  buildings  and  busi- 
ness localities  of  the  city,  conducted  them  in  view  of  every 
passer-by,  just  like  merchants  and  tradesmen,  had  bands 
of  music  playing  in  front  of  the  doors  to  entice  the  stranger, 
and  were  most  prosperous.  Indeed,  so  powerful  were  they 
at  one  time,  that  they  controlled  the  legislature — something 
after  the  Pennsylvania  fashion,  I  doubt  not — to  pass  a  bill 
legalizing  gambling;  and  it  is  the  chief  blot  OQ  Governor 
Evans's  official  record  that  he  approved  the  measure.  Last 
winter  a  year  the  growing  morality  of  Denver  rose  up 
against  the  gamblers,  and  drove  them  out.  They  still 
doubtless  remain  in  some  numbers,  but  they  dare  not  ex- 
pose their  business  to  the  public  gaze,  and  they  are  under 
as  wholesome  restraint  as  in  our  best-governed  cities.  It 
was  this  early  history  of  Denver  that  made  Dixon  blunder 
so  fearfully  as  to  its  present  social  condition.  To-day  it  is 
as  free  from  open  outrages  upon  public  morals  as  any  other 
Western  place  of  the  same  size.  Indeed,  I  regard  it  as  far 
in  advance  of  most  of  them.  In  Omaha  the  two  most  at- 
tractive and  courted  ladies  at  the  most  fashionable  hotel 
in  the  place  were,  when  I  was  there,  known  only  as  "Mrs. 
Faro  "  and  "  Mrs.  Keno."  Here  they  would  not  be  tolerated 
in  any  circle  outside  of  a  church-pew  or  a  horse-race.  On 
Sunday  the  city  was  as  quiet  and  orderly  as  is  Chambers- 
burg,  and  the  number  of  elegant  churches,  seminaries, 
schools,  including  a  convent,  reading-rooms,  etc.,  leaves  no 
room  to  doubt  that  Denver  has  a  moral  tone  controlling 
its  social  life  quite  above  the  average  of  new  cities.  Dixon 
seems  to  have  fallen  into  queer  hands  when  he  was  here. 
His  hero  of  the  city  is  Bob  Wilson,  who,  like  the  prophets, 
perhaps,  is  unknown  as  a  hero  at  home;  and  his  statement 
that  from  three  to  five  persons  were  usually  killed  during  t  lie 
night,  and  sometimes  in  open  day,  has  not  the  shadow  of 
truth  to  justify  it.  Upon  the  whole,  I  have  found  no  plaee 


CHARACTER    OF  THE   WESTERN  SETTLERS.        83 

in  the  Far  West  that  appears  to  me  so  pleasant  socially,  and 
so  substantial  in  its  business,  as  is  Denver.  True,  it  dis- 
counts its  future  development  of  the  precious  metals,  but 
not  more  than  is  fully  warranted. 

The  general  character  of  the  Western  settlers  is  strikingly 
peculiar.  They  cannot  be  judged  by  any  prevalent  rules  in 
the  densely  populated  agricultural  regions  of  the  East. 
They  are  here  solely  because  they  differ  from  those  they 
leave  behind  them.  Many  of  them  may  be  directed  to  the 
isolated  life  of  a  pioneer  by  circumstances  ;  but  the  fact  that 
they  have  the  energy  and  determination  to  defy  adversity 
and  brave  the  perils  and  privations  of  the  plains,  shows  that 
they  are  made  of  sterner  material  than  those  who  bow  to  the 
storm.  The  "  ranch  "  is  the  home  of  the  Western  settler. 
Whether  of  the  farmer,  station-keeper,  or  retailer  of  the 
scant  necessaries  which  command  a  sale  to  the  emigrants 
and  travelers,  all  are  called  ranches.  For  six  hundred 
miles  east — from  Denver  to  the  Missouri  River — there 
are  scarcely  any  buildings  but  sod  hovels,  a  single  low 
story  in  height,  and  covered  with  sod  or  prairie  grass.  In 
these  miserable  holes  they  live,  without  a  shrub  or  tree 
to  shield  them  from  the  bleak  storms  of  winter  or  the 
scorching  suns  of  summer.  Around  them  there  are  no 
signs  of  vegetable  life  but  what  is  presented  by  the  vast 
prairie  that  reaches  from  bluff  to  bluff,  north  and  south 
and  oast  and  west,  until  the  vision  is  lost  in  the  hazy  dis- 
tance. Not  a  plant  is  cultivated;  not  a  single  growth  is 
known  that  affords  sustenance  for  man.  If  they  should 
plough  and  sow,  they  would  be  denied  their  harvest-time. 
The  dry  summers,  usually  without  rain  from  May  until 
fall,  parch  everything  that  is  green,  and  only  the  tough 
grasses  of  the  prairie  preserve  a  sickly,  shriveled  life. 
These  settlers  produce  nothing.  They  brave  the  perils  of 
the  scalpinu'-knife  for  a  time,  to  gather  enough  monev  to 


84  THE  PRAIRIE-DOG  AND   THE  OWL. 

enable  them  to  remove  east  or  still  farther  west  and  get  a 
fruitful  home.  Xone  of  them,  except  those  at  important 
points  like  Julesburg,  dream  of  spending  a  lifetime  where 
thej  are.  If  they  drive  a  prosperous  trade  for  a  few  years, 
they  save  a  considerable  amount  of  money  from  the  sale, 
at  fabulous  prices,  of  whisky,  tobacco,  canned  fruits,  bread, 
etc.  But  few  of  them,  however,  live  thus  until  their  am- 
bition is  satisfied.  Every  few  years  the  Indians  make  a 
clean  sweep  of  their  ranches — the  last  in  1865,  leaving 
scarcely  a  habitation  or  a  settler  from  the  Mountains  to  the 
Blue  River — and  if  the  squatters  save  their  scalps  they  are 
glad  to  sacrifice  their  accumulated  property.  If  they  fall 
victims  to  the  merciless  savages,  others  are  ever  ready  to 
take  their  places,  and  thus  a  continued  line  of  settlers  is 
kept  up  throughout  the  dreary  plain. 

As  yet  I  have  not  seen  a  blossom  west  of  Ohio,  save  an 
occasional  prairie-flower,  that  seemed  to  have  flung  its 
shrinking  beauty  untimely  upon  the  wide-spread  waste. 
Nor  have  I  heard  a  song  except  the  short,  sweet  warble 
of  the  lark,  which  has  been  ever  on  our  path,  and  merry 
as  if  surrounded  with  the  fragrance  and  dews  of  the  East. 
The  buffalo  has  at  times  gazed  at  us  from  his  retreats 
along  the  bluffs,  and  the  elegant  antelope  has  often  paused 
to  gratify  its  curiosity  by  viewing  the  intrusion  of  its 
deadly  enemy  upon  its  grounds;  but  whenever  we  got 
within  long  rifle-range  it  would  bound  off  with  grace  and 
beauty  that  made  me  ever  wish  for  its  escape  from  the 
bullets  sent  whizzing  after  it.  Only  the  jolly  little  prairie- 
dog  and  his  inseparable  companion,  the  owl,  seemed  to 
welcome  us  to  their  homes.  In  places  there  would  be 
hundreds  of  them  on  an  acre  of  ground  alongside  of  the 
road,  and  they  seemed  to  take  especial  pride  in  displaying 
themselves  in  their  most  graceful  attitudes.  The  sober, 
solemn  owl  keeps  guard  at  the  door  of  their  earthen 


THE  INDIAN  TROUBLES  AGAIN.  85 

house,  while  his  dogship  suns  himself  on  the  grass  or 
gathers  his  meals,  and  sometimes  both  sit  in  fraternal 
peace  upon  the  common  hearth.  At  times  the  owl  will 
fly  away  as  the  coach  approaches,  but  usually  he  sits  in 
sullen  composure  and  merely  greets  us  with  an  occasional 
blink  as  we  pass.  The  dog,  more  jolly  and  curious,  will 
sit  up  on  his  hind  legs  and  chatter  away  until  we  get  close 
to  him,  when  he  usually  utters  a  low  bark,  and  disappears 
head-foremost  in  his  little  cavern  home.  The  tradition  that 
the  rattlesnake  shares  the  hospitality  of  the  dog  and  owl, 
I  very  much  question.*  I  have  watched  carefully  for  such 
a  happy  family,  but  never  saw  it,  and  the  weather  we 
have  had  after  leaving  Xorth  Platte  was  just  the  kind  that 
would  have  brought  his  snakeship  to  the  surface  to  sun 
himself  with  his  reputed  companions.  I  do*ubt  not  that 
he  often  enters  the  joint  abode  of  the  dog  and  owl,  but  as 
an  intruder  and  spoiler,  and  not  as  a  welcome  associate.  I 
can  understand  why  he  should  want  to  visit  a  nest  of 
young  prairie-dogs,  for  they  would  make  a  most  delicate 
meal  for  him. 

The  Indian  question  is  becoming  one  of  unpleasant  in- 
terest. I  just  escaped  three  incursions  on  the  Platte  route 
made  while  I  was  on  it ;  and  two  raids  have  been  made 
on  it  since  I  reached  this  city.  The  Smoky  Hill  route 
(there  are  two  routes  from  the  river  to  this  point)  has 
been  raided  daily  since  I  started  west  from  the  Missouri; 

*  I  notice  that  Mr.  Greelcy  and  some  other  writers  insist  that  the 
rattlesnake  shares  the  home  of  the  owl  and  prairie-dog  as  friendly 
tenants  in  common.  After  writing  the  foregoing,  I  made  very 
particular  inquiries  among  the  oldest  and  most  observing  settlers, 
and  their  testimony  is  generally  concurrent  that  the  snake  visits 
the  home  of  the  prairie-dog  only  to  forage  on  the  little  dogs.  In 
all  my  observations,  I  never  saw  a  snaku  in  any  of  the  hundreds  of 
prairie-dog  towns  I  pa>sed. 


86  THE   OVERLAND  ROUTE  CLOSED. 

and  now  the  Indians  have  taken  possession  of  the  route 
between  this  and  Salt  Lake.  The  transportation  company 
have  refused  to  carry  passengers  westward  since  yester- 
day; and  when  I  can  get  off  at  all,  and  whether  it  can  be 
traveled  with  safety  this  season,  are  problems  I  cannot 
now  solve.  The  coach  company  have  appealed  to  the 
military  authorities  for  prompt  protection;  but  when  it 
will  be  had,  and,  when  had,  whether  it  will  be  ample,  are 
questions  the  future  must  decide.  The  coach  that  left 
Sunday  for  Salt  Lake  is  stopped  at  a  fort  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  west,  and  will  not  proceed  until  a 
force  ca«n  be  had  to  escort  it  safely.  Mr.  Hooper,  the 
Mormon  Delegate  to  Congress,  and  Harry  Black,  son  of 
Judge  J.  S.  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  are  among  the  pas- 
sengers. Smce  they  left,  no  passengers  have  been  per- 
mitted to  go,  and  none  will  start  until  there  is  a  largely 
increased  military  force  on  the  line.  Is  it  not  most  remark- 
able that,  with  fifteen  thousand  troops  in  the  different  de- 
partments east  of  the  Mountains,  not  one  of  the  great 
thoroughfares  is  protected  at  all  ?  There  were  five  thou- 
sand troops  in  General  Augur's  department  when  I  traveled 
from  Omaha  to  Denver,  and  yet  the  coach  passed  the  ruins 
of  one  burnt  ranch,  and  where  another  had  been  plundered 
by  Indians,  but  two  days  before,  without  any  effort  to  pro- 
tect it.  At  one  point  the  military  were  clustered  about  a 
whisky-mill,  because,  as  they  said,  they  had  been  chased 
in  by  Indians  but  two  miles  ahead,  and  they  enjoyed  their 
retreat  while  the  coach  passed  over  the  very  line  they  re- 
ported unsafe  for  them  to  occupy.  There  are  enough 
troops  in  the  West  to  guard  the  three  great  thoroughfares, 
if  they  were  detailed  for  the  purpose,  and,  if  that  were 
done,  the  tide  of  emigration  would  settle  the  Indian  ques- 
tion more  speedily  and  effectually  than  regular  troops  will 
ever  settle  it.  Look  at  the  record  of  the  last  week.  The 


THE    WESTERN   VOLUNTEERS.  87 

Smoky  Hill  route  is  raided  daily.  That  of  the  Platte 
every  other  day.  The  Santa  Fe  route  has  its  tales  of 
Indian  horrors.  The  Missouri  River  route,  from  Benton 
to  Helena,  has  its  fresh  graves  of  cruelly  murdered  settlers 
and  travelers ;  and  the  Salt  Lake  route  is  confessedly  im- 
passable. Most  justly  do  the  Western  settlers  complain  of 
the  neglect  of  the  government.  They  do  not  ask  for  troops. 
Their  appeal  is  that  they  may  be  authorized  to  engage  a 
force  to  protect  themselves,  to  be  armed,  equipped,  and 
paid;  but  it  is  persistently  denied.  No  one  doubts  that 
one  thousand  Colorado  volunteers  would  do  more  to  sup- 
press Indian  hostilities  than  will  the  whole  force  under 
Generals  Augur  and  Hancock.  The  well-known  fact  that 
they  would  do  their  work  mercilessly,  as  do  their  cruel 
foes,  would  make  the  Indians  glad  to  abandon  their 
thoroughfares.  They  have  no  fear  of  regular  troops,  but 
they  have  a. most  wholesome  dread  of  Western  volunteers. 
There  have  never  been  renewed  hostilities  where  Western 
men  have  suppressed  them. 


LETTER    IX. 

Colorado  and  her  Progress. — The  Substantial  Progress  of  Denver. 
— Its  Depression  and  Prospects. — The  Evils  of  Selfish  Politi- 
cians.— Colorado  a  Gigantic  Suicide  in  the  Management  of  her 
Kich  Mines. — The  Kage  of  Speculation,  and  consequent  Bank- 
ruptcy.— The  City  of  Abandoned  Quartz-Mills. — Twenty  Mil- 
lions of  Capital  wasted  in  Feverish  Speculation. — Legitimate 
Development  retarded. — The  Prospect  of  Eestoration  to  Pros- 
perous Business.  —  The  Trip  through  the  Mountains.  —  Their 
Matchless  Grandeur.  —  The  Storm-King  in  Conflict  with  the 
Snow-Capped  Peaks. 

IDAHO  CITY,  COLORADO,  May  17,  1867. 
I  HAVE  now  spent  a  week  in  Colorado — mingled  freely 
with  her  ever  kind  and  generous  people  of  all  classes ;. 
visited  her  vast  and  rich  but  sadly  unproductive  mines ; 
shared  the  proverbial  hospitality  of  her  thrifty  farmers  ; 
attended  her  horse-races  and  reading-rooms,  her  churches 
and  theatres;  witnessed  her  variable  climate — from  the 
chilling  snow-storm  to  the  hurricane  that  illumines  its 
path  with  the  lightning's  flash  ;  perspired  under  her  scorch- 
ing noonday  sun,  and  spent  the  evenings  of  the  same  days 
around  the  cheerful,  welcome  fires  of  her  own  coal-fields, 
and  seen  her  hopeful,  expanding  business  centres  in  the 
tide  of  prosperity,  and  her  deserted  villages,  created  by 
feverish  speculation,  now  the  unsightly  monuments  of 
decay.  All  these  pass  before  the  inquiring  tourist  like 
some  swift-revolving  panorama,  and  each  day  leaves  him 
bewildered  with  its  shifting  scenes  and  its  impressive 
lessons. 

(88) 


SUBSTANTIAL  PROGRESS  OF  DENVER.  89 

Of  all  the  Western  cities  I  have  visited,  Denver  seems 
to  me  the  most  inviting  and  substantial.  It  has  had  the 
usual  schooling  of  prosperous  cities  in  mining  regions ;  its 
history  has  been  blotted  by  the  supremacy  of  thieves  and 
desperadoes ;  its  vigilance  committee  has  been  compelled 
to  usurp  the  functions  of  law  in  behalf  of  morality  and 
public  safety ;  its  gamblers  have  even,  until  within  two 
years,  occupied  its  choicest  places,  where  the  victim  was 
lured  to  ruin  in  open  day  by  bands  of  music ;  but  a  sturdy, 
earnest,  faithful  people  have  steadily  warred  upon  defiant 
crime,  until  it  has  surrendered  the  contest  and  left  Denver 
a  city  of  commendable  order  and  morals.  It  now  numbers 
probably  eight  thousand  inhabitants ;  has  seminaries  and 
schools,  nearly  half  a  score  of  churches,  three  daily  news- 
papers, an  excellent  reading-room,  the  finest  stores  I  have 
seen  west  of  Chicago,  and  a  class  of  business  men  unsur- 
passed in  character  and  attainments  in  any  of  our  Eastern 
towns  of  the  same  size.  It  has  the  common  fault  of  all 
"Western  cities.  While-  they  grow  at  all,  they  grow  with 
"feverish,  unhealthy  pace.  Instead  of  systematically  labor- 
ing to  cheapen  homes,  business  places,  and  products,  they 
all  struggle  to  swell  the  tide  of  inflation.  In  a  few  in- 
stances, it  may  be  sustained  by  fortuitous  circumstances; 
but  as  a  rule  it  results  in  financial  disaster  and  in  pros- 
trating prices,  business,  and  growth  below  their  proper 
level.  Denver  was  the  creation  of  the  mines.  It  now  is 
floating  on  the  waves  of  hope,  and  discounting  all  its  pros- 
pects. If  the  mineral  wealth  of  Colorado  shall  be  mas- 
tered at  an  early  day,  then  must  Denver  even  surpass  the 
expectations  of  its  citizens;  but  if  successive  years  of 
doubt  and  hope  deferred  should  be  the  fate  of  Colorado, 
then  must  its  decline  be  fearful  and  to  very  many  fatal.  I 
share  fully  the  hope  of  the  business  men  of  Denver,  that 
they  have  reached  nearly  or  quite  the  depth  of  misfortune, 

9 


90  COLORADO   A    GIGANTIC  SUICIDE. 

and,  while  lots  and  rents  are  still  at  fabulous  prices,  I  look 
for  them  to  advance  rather  than  decline.  There  is  wealth 
enough  to  maintain  the  struggle  until  science  shall  pour 
into  its  lap  the  untold  riches  of  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains, and  the  busy  husbandman  is  yearly  making  the 
parched  plains  about  the  city  to  bloom  and  ripen  with  the 
golden  fruits  of  the  field. 

Colorado  has  been  sadly  wounded  in  the  house  of  her 
friends.  She  has  been  the  football  for  contending  cliques 
of  selfish  and  corrupt  politicians,  and  is  ever  convulsed  by 
their  ceaseless  machinations.  It  would  seem  that  Caesar 
has  a  party,  and  Antony  a  party,  but  that  Colorado  has 
none.  Badly  as  most  of  our  Territories  have  been  and 
are  still  governed,  I  know  of  none  that  has  been  so  played 
upon  and  bedeviled  by  ambitious  tricksters  as  Colorado. 
Her  policy  is  unsettled,  her  future  uncertain,  and  doubt, 
disappointment,  and  humiliation  constitute  the  experience 
of  her  people.  Governor  Hunt  would  doubtless  make  her  a 
State  to-morrow,  if  he  and  his  friends  could  hold  the  win- 
ning cards  ;  but  whether  many  of  the  present  State  leaders 
would  not,  in  that  event,  recede  in  favor  of  a  continued 
territorial  government,  certainly  admits  of  argument.  This 
struggle,  ever  injurious  to  Colorado,  must  continue  thus, 
it  would  seem,  until  she  is  admitted  ;  and  for  that  reason 
alone,  if  for  no  other,  I  trust  Congress  will  speedily  end 
the  contest  in  that  way.  The  fact  that  those  who  ask  her 
admission  are  in  sympathy  with  the  loyal  men  of .  the 
nation,  while  those  who  resist  it  are  in  harmony  with 
and  sustained  by  the  faithless  here  and  elsewhere,  is  an 
additional  argument  in  favor  of  ending  this  bitter  and  dis- 
astrous strife,  that  should  be  conclusive.  I  firmly  believe 
that  the  material  interests  of  Colorado  would  be  more  ad- 
vanced in  one  year  under  a  State  organization  than  in 
five  years  of  territorial  misgovernment  and  acrimonious 
political  warfare. 


THE  RAGE  FOR  SPECULATION.  91 

But  also  in  her  business  prosperity  has  Colorado  been 
a  gigantic  suicide.  In  1862  her  mines  yielded  not  less 
than  eight  millions  of  gold.  In  1866  they  yielded  less 
than  one  million ;  although  her  mines  to-day  present  ten 
times  the  number  of  rich  leads  they  had  developed  when 
the  product  was  greatest.  True,  gulch-mining  has  passed 
away — it  has  done  its  work ;  and  the  free  gold  of  the 
surface-ores  has  changed,  as  the  shafts  have  descended, 
into  a  combination  with  the  refractory  metals.  But  still 
Colorado  should  now  be  producing  five  millions  of  gold 
and  silver  annually.  The  rage  for  speculation  in  the  East 
made  some  of  the  shrewder  owners  of  the  mines  put  them 
into  huge  corporations  at  bewildering  prices;  and  the 
miners  were  not  long  in  learning  that  it  was  easier  to 
make  a  hundred  thousand  or  so  by  a  single  sale  to  ver- 
dant capitalists  than  to  earn  it  by  pan  and  shovel  or  by 
rude  stamps,  however  rich  the  yield.  Thus  the  infection 
reached  the  mines,  and  thousands  who  were  once  content 
to  earn  treble  wages  at  mining,  became  mere  proprietors, 
speculators,  and  often  swindlers.  Legitimate  mining  was 
almost  entirely  abandoned,  and  the  whole  industrial  wealth 
of  Colorado  was  paralyzed.  As  soon  as  one  good  lead  was 
sold,  a  hundred  others,  in  the  same  locality,  would  be  forced 
on  to  the  market  successfully  by  a  regular  system  of  Jeremy- 
diddling,  and  "salted"  lodes  and  hired  certificates  wore 
used  to  tempt  the  insatiable  appetite  for  sudden  wealth. 

It  is  a  startling  fact,  but  nevertheless  true,  that  there 
has  been  nearly  as  much  money  invested  in  Colorado  by 
corporations  as  the  entire  product  of  the  mines  from  their 
discovery  until  now.  I  have  seen  the  fruits  of  twenty 
millions  of  capital  in  one  day's  ride  from  Denver  to  this 
place.  The  Clear  Creek  gulch,  for  several  miles  east  of 
Central  City,  until  we  leave  it  to  ascend  the  range  west 
of  Central,  is  almost  one  continued  city  of  idle  mills  and 


92  ABANDONED    QUARTZ  MILLS. 

machinery.  Some  are  rotting  down  and  their  machinery 
falling  to  pieces  ;  others  give  unmistakable  signs  of  aban- 
donment and  decay.  Still  others  are  closed  up  in  tolera- 
ble preservation,  but  evidently  have  served  their  purpose 
in  the  hands  of  their  present  owners.  A  few — not  one  in 
ten — are  in  operation ;  but  all,  or  nearly  all,  are  guiltless 
of  dividends  to  their  stockholders.  Many  of  the  finest 
mills  have  been  built  by  companies  who  were  cheated  in 
their  mines,  and  who  found,  when  they  were  ready  to  run, 
that  they  had  no  gold  ore  to  reduce.  Others  found  their 
ores  so  charged  with  sulphurets  that  they  could  not  amal- 
gamate ;  but  perhaps  the  larger  class  were  swindled  and 
bankrupted  in  their  management.  None  seem  to  have  had 
practical  ideas  of  the  successful  development  of  gold. 
They  had  been  promised  easy  dividends  by  those  who 
sold  them  their  mines,  and  they  all  rushed  up  their  mills, 
at  enormous  expense,  before  they  had  opened  their  leads 
or  had  any  proper  preparation  for  getting  out  their  ore. 
The  result  was  delay,  wasteful  extravagance,  and,  usually, 
bankruptcy.  I  saw  fully  a  score  of  mills  erected  by  East- 
ern companies  which  had  not  one  good  mine,  put  them  all 
together.  One  excellent  stone  mill,  built  by  General  Fitz- 
John  Porter,  is  now  used  as  a  stable,  and  it  serves  a  better 
purpose  than  do  most  of  the  others.  Many  of  them  have 
good  mines ;  but  they  never  can  work  them  profitably  as 
at  present  organized.  They  must,  as  a  rule,  begin  again, 
procure  new  machinery  adapted  to  the  peculiar  ores  of 
Colorado,  bring  their  inflated  capital  down  to  something 
like  a  rational  figure,  and  enforce  the  same  system  of 
economy  in  their  management  that  their  owners  practice 
in  their  private  business  affairs. 

It  was  a  painful  spectacle  to  see  miles  after  miles  of  aban- 
doned mills  standing  as  grim  monuments  of  the  folly  of 
disappointed  or  ruined  stockholders.  Their  owners  have 


THE  PROSPECT  OF  RESTORATION.  93 

paid  out  their  millions  of  money  without  stint,  and  built 
up  a  continuous  city  along  the  gulch.  Black  Hawk  City, 
Mountain  City,  and  Central  City  have  no  visible  lines  of 
separation.  A  single  narrow  street  winds  along  the  stream, 
with  compactly-built  lines  of  houses  on  either  side ;  and 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  general  prostration  and  ruin  which 
surround  the  cities,  they  are  keeping  up  the  semblance  of 
business  in  the  very  depths  of  despair.  They  are  waiting 
and  struggling  to  live  until  the  new  order  of  things  shall 
dawn  upon  them — until  the  dead  corporations  shall  be 
decently  buried,  and  strong  arms  and  practical  minds  shall 
drag  forth  the  slumbering  wealth.  Missouri  City  stands 
in  melancholy  solitude  upon  the  hill  west  of  Central,  with 
its  tenantless  houses,  idle  mills,  and  empty  flumes,  and 
Nevada  City,  winding  off  to  the  northwest,  in  continued 
decay,  completes  this  colossal  tomb  of  buried  hopes. 

Think  not  that  this  gloomy  picture  is  to  be  perpetual. 
This  almost  universal  desolation  is  in  the  midst  of  enough 
gold  to  pay  half  our  national  debt.  The  mountain-ranges 
along  Clear  Creek,  and  thence  westward  to  and  beyond 
this  place,  are  studded  with  gold.  The  gulches  have  all 
been  dug  over,  and  have  well  rewarded  the  heroes  of  the 
pan  and  spade.  Russell  Gulch,  just  above  Central  City, 
had  five  thousand  miners  in  it  seven  years  ago;  and  from 
the  top  of  the  hill  near  by,  wherever  the  eye  turns,  it 
meets  the  ridged  surface  that  tells  of  the  wealth  given  up 
to  the  industrious  laborer.  From  where  I  write,  I  can 
see  the  same  evidences  of  the  rich  deposits  from  the  range 
beyond ;  and  Empire  and  Georgetown  are  new  centres  of 
mining  success.  Georgetown  has  silver-mines  which,  for 
vastness  and  richness,  are  hardly  surpassed  on  the  conti- 
nent. Like  the  gold-mines,  they  are  not  yet  mastered; 
but  they  will  soon  yield  to  the  progress  of  science,  and 
then  must  Colorado  once  more  send  forth  her  millions 

Q* 


94  DIFFERENT  PROCESSES  OF  SMELTING. 

of  treasure  annually.  How  soon  this  can  be  done,  I  do  not 
pretend  to  say ;  but  I  hope  and  believe  that  another  year 
will  nearly,  if  not  quite,  achieve  this  great  result.  I  have 
visited  every  accessible  place  where  it  is  pretended  to 
master  the  Colorado  ores ;  and,  while  a  number  claim  to 
have  conquered  them,  I  doubt  whether  any  of  the  different 
methods  now  being  tried  combine  all  the  essential  requi- 
sites. Some  of  them,  doubtless,  save  the  gold ;  but  they 
have  not  been  able  to  work  large  quantities  at  a  moderate 
cost.  The  Reese  process,  now  in  operation  below  Cen- 
tral City  by  the  California  Reduction  Company,  seems  to 
have  attained  the  highest  measure  of  success.  They  are 
producing  from  $100  to  $150  per  ton  from  ores  which 
yield  no  results  on  the  ordinary  mill ;  but  they  require  a 
large  cylinder,  five  feet  in  diameter  and  probably  ten  feet 
long,  to  reduce  a  ton  per  dayr^Jhis  process  is  the  best 
effort  at  simplicity  and  the  complete  separation  of  the  gold 
from  the  base  metals  ever  yet  put  in  operation.  They  can 
save  from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent,  from  the  obstinate 
ores  of  Clear  Creek  region.  The  Keith  process  is  more 
complicated  and,  I  learn,  more  expensive,  but  works  more 
ore  with  the  same  power,  without  saving  so  large  a  per- 
centage of  the  precious  metal.  The  smelting-works  of  the 
Consolidated  Gregory  may  or  may  not  be  successful.  Of 
their  operations  and  results  the  public  have  no  knowledge, 
and  stockholders  generally  but  little,  if  any,  more.  The 
practical  men  here  call  them  the  Wall  Street  Works. 
Their  stock  is  depressed  and  inflated  at  will  by  a  circle  of 
controlling  owners,  and  of  its  actual  value  none  but  the 
initiated  can  judge  correctly,  as  there  are  no  dividends  to 
determine  the  question.  I  do  not,  of  course,  pretend  to 
express  an  intelligent  judgment  about  these  different  pro- 
cesses. I  welcome  all  of  them,  and  would  be  glad  to  see 
ten  times  the  number  in  actual  operation ;  for  only  by  per- 


WHEN  MINING    WILL   BE  PROFITABLE.  95 

sistent,  patient,  practical  efforts,  and  the  combination  of 
the  successful  features  of  each  system,  can  the  Colorado 
ores  be  made  to  give  up  their  countless  wealth.  The  day 
cannot  be  far  distant  when  they  must  yield  to  complete 
mastery,  as  the  New  and  Old  Worlds  are  both  directing 
their  best  scientific  and  practical  efforts  to  solve  this  great 
problem.  I  do  not  hope  that  any  process  will  ever  be  dis- 
covered to  save  the  corporations  now  scattered  all  over 
the  mining  regions  of  the  Territory,  as  they  are  now  or- 
ganized ;  and  the  sooner  this  fact  is  appreciated,  the  better 
it  will  be  for  all  parties  interested.  The  inflated  capital 
and  cumbrous  managements  must  be  abandoned,  and  new 
organizations  effected,  based  upon  actual  capital  and  con- 
fided to  practical  miners  or  scientific  mill-men.  Mining 
and  the  reduction  of  the  ores  will  become  separate  and 
distinct  enterprises ;  both  will  command  the  most  skilled 
labor  in  their  respective  branches,  and  both  will  thus 
prosper.  I  believe  that  one  year  hence  no  owner  of  mines 
will  think  of  reducing  his  own  ores,  and  few  owners  of 
mills  will  trouble  themselves  about  the  purchase  of  mines. 
When  this  fearful  rubbish  of  decayed  corporations — now 
holding  many  valuable,  but  to  them  useless,  mines  in  their 
clutches — shall  have  been  cleared  away,  mining  in  Colo- 
rado will  again  become  a  legitimate  business,  and  the 
miner  will  need  no  more  than  his  own  industry  to  develop 
his  claim.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  mining  be  profit- 
able to  any  parties  in  Colorado ;  and  when  that  time  shall 
come,  this  rich  but  sorely-depressed  Territory  will  rival 
California  and  Montana  in  the  production  of  the  precious 
metals. 

I  should  be  glad  to  say  something  about  the  magnifi- 
cent scenery  presented  by  the  trip  from  Denver  here,  but 
I  have  neither  time  nor  space.  From  the  base  of  the 
mountains,  some  thirteen  miles  west  of  Denver,  we  were 


96  THE  TRIP   THROUGH  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

whirled  through  the  narrow  canons,  over  the  steep  de- 
clivities, and  along  the  mountain  -  sides,  over  the  best 
stage-road  I  ever  traveled,  until  we  landed  in  this  lovely 
little  village,  hemmed  in  by  a  circle  of  ranges.  Its  cele- 
brated hot  soda-springs  made  me  tarry  a  day  to  enjoy 
them;  and  I  hazard  nothing  in  predicting  that  in  a  very 
few  years  they  will  attract  thousands  annually  from  the 
Eastern  coast  in  search  of  rest  and  of  nature's  sublimest 
beauties.  Go  where  you  will  in  this  section,  the  prospect 
is  most  charming;  but  all  is  dwarfed  by  the  indescrib- 
able grandeur  of  the  mountains.  Volumes  have  been 
written  about  the  grandeur  of  the  Alps;  but  the  world 
has  only  one  such  view  as  is  presented  from  the  rolling 
prairie  east  of  Denver.  In  bewildering  sublimity  it  is 
without  parallel.  There  may  be  isolated  views  of  the 
Alps  as  beautiful  as  any  twenty  miles  of  the  Rocky 
range,  and  the  icy  land  of  Russian  America  has  its  St. 
Elias,  that  towers  higher  toward  the  heavens  than  the 
highest  of  these;  but  here  is  presented,  in  one  grand  view, 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from 
beyond  Pike's  Peak  far  off  to  the  south,  thence  by  the 
Spanish  Peaks,  to  Long's  Peak,  and  still  on  toward  the 
north,  until  the  range  is  lost  in  the  dimness  of  distance. 
Black,  threatening  clouds  hung  about  them  when  first  I 
saw  them,  and  added  to  the  peerless  beauty  of  the  scene. 
Around  Long's  Peak  the  storm-king  seemed  to  be  spell- 
bound or  held  an  easy  captive,  for  he  had  no  deliverance 
until  his  heavy  clouds  had  been  discharged  and  broken 
and  his  thunderbolts  drawn  in  harmless  violence.  Far 
behind  the  struggling  tempest  the  setting  sun  was  casting 
his  evening  rays  through  the  tossing  clouds.  On  either 
side  of  the  storm  he  was  reaching  out  his  light,  flinging 
the  silver  lining  around  the  raging  elements,  breaking  in 
refulgent  splendor  on  the  distant  peaks,  and  flashing  in 


THE   GREAT  SNOWY  RANGE.  97 

almost  dazzling  brilliancy  upon  their  eternal  snows.  To 
the  north  the  sweeping  snows,  falling  and  flitting  in  grace- 
ful waves,  seemed  to  defy  the  lightning's  erratic  flash, 
while  on  the  south  the  bow  of  promise  illumined  the 
heavens.  It  was  the  very  sublimity  of  moral  and  material 
grandeur — a  panorama  that  God  alone  could  have  fash- 
ioned. The  great  Snowy  Eange  is  the  first  to  meet  the 
eye,  and  the  vision  insensibly  wanders  along  its  vast, 
ridged,  and  broken  sweep,  which  loses  itself  in  the  deep-blue 
vaulted  dome  on  either  side.  It  has  no  two  points  alike,  as 
if  the  Great  Architect  meant  to  confuse  the  very  concep- 
tions of  men  in  this  colossal  masterpiece  of  His  creation. 
Yonder  is  a  cluster  of  peaks  which  look  as  if  made  up  of 
huge  inverted  icicles,  and  beside  them  it  would  seem  that 
gigantic  snowdrifts,  with  their  unique  and  countless  forms, 
had  fallen  in.  Here  is  a  hillock  of  spotless  white,  whose 
clothing  changes  not  with  the  revolving  seasons,  regular, 
graceful,  rounding  with  apparent  mathematical  precision 
until  it  finishes  with  its  tapered  cap  of  snow.  There  are 
deep  ravines,  vast  gorges,  and  rude,  scraggy  peaks,  as  if 
the  earthquake  had  taken  the  Western  world  in  its  frenzied 
arms  and  tossed  its  mightiest  rocks  in  wild  disorder  across 
the  plains.  Thus,  north  and  south,  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
see,  and  for  five  hundred  miles  toward  the  setting  sun, 
these  vast,  snow-clad  monuments  of  omnipotent  power  pre- 
sent their  varied  beauties  and  surpassing  grandeur,  and  I 
turn  from  them  only  when  the  last  ray  of  the  receding  sun 
has  parted  with  their  topmost  crowns,  and  the  mellow 
moonlight  takes  up  the  grateful  task  of  displaying,  through 
night's  weary  .shadows,  this  mute  but  most  impressive 
tribute  which  an  all-wise  God  has  reared  to  Himself. 


LETTER   X. 

Indian-bound  in  Denver. — The  Savages  controlling  the  Overland 
Route  East  and  West. — General  Augur's  Use  of  Troops. — In- 
teresting Telegraphic  Correspondence  with  Him. — His  "Upper 
Country"  Campaign. — No  Earnest  Effort  to  protect  the  Great 
Overland  Routes. — A  Pleasant  Time  with  the  Coloradans. — 
New  Treatment  of  Strangers. — Why  Dixon  was  fooled. — The 
Variety  of  Character  in  the  West. — The  Stage-Driver. — His 
Skill,  Intelligence,  and  Courtesy. — Staging  about  Denver. — The 
"Square  Meals"  of  the  West. — High  Prices  of  Labor. — House- 
Servants  and  Wives  wanted. — Judge  Eyster. — Colonel  Wash. 
Lee. 

DENVER,  COLORADO,  May  20,  1867. 

STILL  in  Denver,  with  no  prospect  of  an  early  departure. 
If  I  had  the  time  to  spare,  I  would  not  regret  the  deten- 
tion ;  but,  anxious  as  I  am  to  get  to  the  north  by  Utah,  the 
days  hang  heavily  on  my  hands.  I  dare  not  leave  for  any 
of  the  many  distant  points  of  interest  in  the  Territory,  lest 
I  forfeit  my  title  to  the  first  coach  that  starts  out  with  pas- 
sengers for  Salt  Lake,  and  I  am  putting  in  the  time  as  best 
I  can,  between  devouring  the  exchanges  of  the  several 
newspaper  offices,  boring  the  coach-agents,  complaining  of 
the  military,  and  discussing  the  Indian  question  with  the 
people  generally.  It  is  the  question  of  all  others  that  the 
Far- Western  people  prefer  to  elucidate  ;  and  they  seem  to 
thrust  it  upon  every  visitor,  morning,  noon,  and  night, 
until  they  consider  that  their  policy  of  prompt  and  merci- 
less extermination  has  been  adopted. 

The  stage  company  has  declined  passengers  since  the 
12th  instant.     On  that  day,  Mr.  Hooper,  Delegate  to  Con- 
(98) 


GENERAL  AUGURS   USE   OF  TROOPS.  99 

gress  from  Utah,  and  others,  started  west ;  but  they  have 
enjoyed  the  luxury  of  rusticating  for  a  week  at  Cooper's 
Creek,  without  accommodations,  and  living  on  provisions 
sent  them  daily  from  this  place  by  coach.  From  that  point 
west,  for  fifty  miles,  there  is  no  stock,  and,  of  course,  no 
transit  for  passengers.  The  horses  not  captured  by  the 
Indians  have  been  "bunched"  at  either  end  of  the  hostile 
country,  and  I  doubt  whether  there  will  be  regular  coaches 
through  for  a  month  to  come,  if  indeed  they  get  into  oper- 
ation at  all  this  season.  The  universal  impression  of  the 
people  is  that  the  Indians  are  now  stealing  stock  to  mount 
their  warriors,  with  the  intention  of  inaugurating  general 
hostilities  as  soon  as  the  grass  is  sufficiently  grown  to  feed 
their  horses,  on  the  war-path ;  and,  if  this  be  true,  the  In- 
dian troubles  are  just  beginning,  and  a  month  hence  there 
will  be  no  coaches,  at  all  west  of  this  point,  and  very  few 
regular  trips  between  this  and  the  terminus  of  the  rail- 
road. 

I  have  exhausted  every  means  I  could  devise  to  get  off, 
but  without  in  any  degree  facilitating  my  passage  west- 
ward. Knowing  as  I  do  that  General  Augur  has  nearly 
or  quite  five  thousand  troops  in  his  department,  that  over 
one  thousand  of  them  are  at  Fort  Sedgwick,  less  than  two 
hundred  miles  east  of  this  point,  and  that  he  has  but  this 
one  great  thoroughfare  to  protect,  the  Smoky  Hill  route 
being  in  Hancock's  department,  I  at  once  appealed  to  him, 
by  telegraph,  to  hasten  forward  a  sufficient  number  of 
troops  to  protect  the  stations  and  the  travel.  I  was 
amazed  to  find  less  thai*  three  hundred  troops  on  the 
entire  line  between  this  and  Salt  Lake — a  distance  of  six 
hundred  miles, — and  of  that  number  less  than  one-third 
mounted,  or  in  any  way  fitted  to  protect  the  route.  I  took 
it  for  granted  that  General  Augur  would  at  once  open  the 
line,  as  it  seemed  to  be  entirely  in  his  power  to  do  so ;  but 


100  T1IE  "UPPER  COUNTRY"    CAMPAIGN. 

he  telegraphed  me  a  speech  in  reply,  at  the  cost  of  $18.06, 
the  material  portion  of  which  was  that  the  route  didn't 
need  protection,  and  that  if  it  did  he  couldn't  protect  it. 
He  also  favored  me  with  the  luxury  of  a  disquisition  on 
the  obstinacy  of  army  contractors,  who  were  preventing 
him  from  moving  his  army  into  the  "upper  country."  I 
need  not  say  that  I  ceased  telegraphic  communication  with 
military  head-quarters.  I  may,  if  detained  at  Big  Lara- 
mie,  get  General  Augur  to  telegraph  me  the  119th  Psalm, 
if  the  time  passes  wearily  ;  but  I  do  not  think  it  likely  that 
I  shall  make  any  further  telegraphic  eiforts  to  get  the  In- 
dians out  of  the  way. 

The  "  upper  country,"  of  which  General  Augur  speaks 
as  the  destination  of  his  army,  is  where  not  a  solitary  trav- 
eler nor  private  train  has  ventured  this  season,  and  where 
none  will  venture  while  there  are  any  Indian  disturbances. 
There  are  forts  to  supply,  and  government  trains  must  be 
protected  in  supplying  them ;  but  beyond  that  any  military 
movements  in  that  direction  will  be  disastrous  failures. 
Here  is  a  great  thoroughfare,  over  which  thousands  of 
people  wish  to  travel  this  season,  and  it  should  be  made 
safe  first  of  all ;  but  it  seems  to  be  the  last  point  looked 
after  by  our  military  commanders.  They  insist  that  the 
Indians  are  not  at  war, — that  they  are  simply  stealing 
stock.  Granted,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  they  are 
now  simply  stealing,  what  are  they  stealing  horses  for? 
It  is  done  by  Indians  who  have  openly  declared  war;  and 
when  they  have  the  horses,  what  wiJl  they  do?  I  maybe 
stupid  on  this  point,  but  I  cannot  resist  the  conviction  that 
if  the  Indians  were  to  try  their  peculiar  system  of  thieving 
upon  General  Augur,  he  would  use  different  terms  to  express 
his  idea  of  their  acts,  as  long  as  he  could  use  any  terms  at 
all.  In  the  same  raid  by  which  they  interrupted  the  coach- 
line  west,  they  killed  and  scalped  one  railroad  engineer,  and 


A   PLEASANT  TIME    WITH  THE   COLORADANS.       101 

severely  wounded  and  imperfectly  scalped  another ;  and  on 
t  lir  Smoky  Hill  route  they  have  killed  three  station-keepers 
since  I  have  been  here,  scalped  them,  cut  them  in  pieces, 
and  burned  their  remains.  This  is  called  "thieving"  in 
military  parlance  out  West ;  and  I  presume  that  if  the 
Indians  should  scalp  me,  and  have  a  war-dance  over  my 
mutilated  corpse,  the  commanding  officer  would  report  a 
case  of  petty  larceny  on  the  part  of  the  savages. 

Judge  Carter,  of  Bridger,  has  been  among  the  detained 
passengers  here  for  several  days,  but  he  got  together  a 
party  of  half  a  dozen  frontier-men  and  started  off  in  the 
coach  yesterday  for  Cooper's  Creek,  intending  to  do  the 
best  they  could  thence  westward.  They  will  join  Hooper's 
party  at  Cooper's,  and  may  manage  to  "  bunch"  (as  they 
call  it  here)  two  coaches,  and  proceed  slowly,  traveling 
in  the  dangerous  country  only  at  night.  In  this  way  they 
may  get  through ;  and  Judge  Carter  proposes  to  do  the 
work  of  the  government  by  sending  back  friendly  Indians 
to  protect  the  coaches.  So  far  as  concerns  the  opening  and 
protecting  of  the  stage-line,  I  would  not  exchange  Judge 
Carter  for  a  score  of  major-generals,  even  with  a  lieutenant- 
general  thrown  in. 

Save  my  disappointment  in  not  getting  west,  as  I  hoped, 
my  stay  among  the  people  of  Colorado  has  been  exceed- 
ingly pleasant.  They  do  not  cultivate  the  ornamental 
very  much  in  the  reception  of  pretentious  strangers,  but 
they  do  welcome,  with  genuine  kindness  and  hospitality, 
all  who  behave  themselves  properly.  Those  wTho  come 
here  overflowing  with  knowledge?,  and  the  grace  to  dis- 
pense it  in  a  patronizing  way  to  the  denizens  of  the  plains 
and  mountains,  generally  go  wooling  and  come  home 
shorn;  but  those  who  come  as  gentlemen,  and  prove  them- 
selves worthy  of  the  title,  meet  with  gentlemen  and  re- 
ceive the  treatment  due.  The  people  here  judge  quite  us 

10 


102       VARIETY  OF  CHARACTER   IN  THE    WEST. 

well  of  the  merits  of  a  gentleman  as  do  the  more  assuming 
circles  of  the  East — perhaps  a  little  better.  They  do  not 
lay  much  stress  on  the  color  of  a  man's  gloves,  the  cut  of 
his  coat,  or  the  elegance  and  grace  with  which  he  swings 
his  cane;  but  they  appreciate  good  manners,  intelligence, 
and  fair  repute,  and  welcome  them  to  their  firesides.  He 
who  comes  here,  expecting  to  judge  men  by  appearances 
and  get  his  information  from  the  outward  signs  of  gentility, 
will,  as  a  rule,  spend  his  money  and  time  in  vain,  besides 
making  a  fool  of  himself.  You  will  often  find  some  grad- 
uate of  Yale  "  bull-whacking"  his  own  team  from  the  river 
to  his  mines,  looking  as  if  he  had  seldom  seen  soap  and 
water,  and  had  pitched  his  clothes  on  at  some  second-hand 
shop ;  while  if  you  want  a  first-class  loafer  you  will  find  him 
in  seedy  gentility,  sponging  upon  strangers  and  visitors 
about  public  houses,  ever  ready  with  startling  tales,  such 
as  were  played  off  upon  Dixon.  Had  that  gentleman  met 
the  people  as  a  student  rather  than  as  a  teacher,  leaving 
the  "Athenaeum"  behind  him,  he  would  have  been  spared 
the  fantastic  figure  he  cuts  in  his  history  of  these  settlers. 
Even  Bob  Wilson,  his  galvanized  hero  of  Colorado,  admits 
only  to  having  casually  met  Mr.  Dixon,  and,  beyond  Bob, 
no  one  confesses  to  his  acquaintance. 

There  is  here,  as  elsewhere,  every  variety  of  character  ; 
but  of  all  classes  the  sojourner  can  learn  much,  if  he  so 
chooses.  The  jolly,  self-complaisant,  semi-comic  whittler 
who  described  to  me  the  nature  of  the  cotton  wood  by 
saying  that  he  had  built  a  shanty  of  it  and  found  it 
warped,  in  one  day  and  night,  so  that  it  stood  "  square  on 
the  roof,"  and  who  described  the  perpendicular  heights  of 
Pike's  Peak  by  declaring,  in  the  most  positive  manner, 
that  it  required  a  man  to  look  four  times,  and  chalk  the 
places,  before  he  could  see  to  the  top,  was  neither  fool  nor 
knave,  nor  did  he  leave,  without  giving  me,  in  his  own 


THE  STAGE-DRIVER.  103 

extravagant  way,  much  information  that  I  desired.  But 
the  stage-driver  is  the  institution  of  the  Far  West,  and 
I  have  enjoyed  his  acquaintance  in  no  common  degree. 
The  driver  of  the  plains  and  mountains  is  an  expert  with 
the  lines  and  whip,  and  has  no  charge  of  horses  except- 
ing when  they  are  on  the  road.  He  is  an  educated  man 
in  his  line.  He  usually  drives  from  forty-five  to  fifty 
miles,  while  the  teams  are  changed  every  ten  miles. 
When  he  arrives  at  a  "  swing  station"  (where  the  teams 
are  changed),  he  drops  the  lines,  and  chats  with  the  land- 
lord or  the  passengers  while  his  team  is  unhitched  and 
another  attached.  He  then  walks,  with  becoming  dignity 
and  conscious  responsibility,  about  the  newly-hitched  team, 
sees  that  the  traces,  lines,  etc.  are  all  in  perfect  order,  then 
gathers  up  his  lines  and,  with  the  majesty  of  a  legislative 
presiding  officer,  calls  out,  "All  'board,"  and  away  he  goes. 
I  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  every  one  I  have  traveled 
with,  and  never  yet  found  one  that  even  approached  loqua- 
city. They  will  talk  freely,  and  always  intelligently,  but 
you  never  get  more  than  a  hasty  glance  of  their  e3res  from 
their  gay  and  fleet  teams.  Some,  indeed,  I  found  unpleas- 
antly reticent,  but  all,  without  exception,  were  courteous. 
I  doubt  not  that  they  are  often  bored  until  their  patience  is 
sorely  tried,  and  perhaps  I  repeated,  in  some  instances,  that 
particular  feature  of  their  experience  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  I  found 
them  highly  entertaining.  They  usually  drive  six  horses, 
and  aim  to  be,  as  they  doubtless  are,  the  best  drivers  in 
the  world.  I  rode  outside  with  them  frequently,  and  was 
charmed  with  the  caution  and  precision  they  display  in  the 
narrow,  steep,  and  sharply-curved  roads  of  the  mountains. 
With  a  single  hand  they  will  sweep  their  horses  around  a 
short  turn,  or  pass  another  team,  with  a  grace  and  elegance 
that  are  perfectly  artistic  ;  and,  while  they  almost  fly  down 
the  steep  mountain  declivities,  they  insure  safety  by  never 


104         THE  "SQUARE  MEALS"    OF  THE    WEST. 

losing  for  a  moment  the  complete  control  of  a  single  horse 
in  the  team.  A  word  from  the  driver  is  expected  to  be 
obeyed  by  the  horse  to  which  it  is  addressed ;  and  woe  to 
the  luckless  animal  that  does  not  heed!  The  long  la^h  of 
the  whip  will  whirl  in  the  air,  and  its  keen,  silken  cracker 
will  bring  the  blood  from  the  flank  of  the  obstinate  animal. 
The  teams  are  all  matched,  with  the  gayest  of  leaders,  and 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  make  ten  miles  an  hour  on 
the  plains,  or  descending  the  mountains.  Distance  in  stag- 
ing seems  to  be  dwarfed,  out  here.  I  now  consider  fifty 
miles  of  staging,  over  these  excellent  roads,  but  a  pleasant 
little  morning  ride.  Last  week  I  breakfasted  at  Idaho,  drove 
six  miles  over  one  of  the  steep  spurs  of  the  mountains, 
and  was  in  Denver  for  two  o'clock  dinner — having  traveled 
nearly  sixty  miles  over  harder  hills  than  separate  Charn- 
bersburg  from  Bedford.  I  tire,  of  course,  of  being  cramped 
up  in  a  crowded  stage ;  but  a  little  walk  at  each  station,  in 
this  region,  makes  one  feel  as  fresh  as  if  resting  for  an 
hour.  The  air  is  so  pure  that  it  seems  to  strengthen  not 
only  the  lungs,  but  the  blood,  the  brain,  the  very  bones, 
and  it  is  a  luxury  to  breathe  in  its  sweet  invigoration. 

I  had  read  so  much  of  the  "  square  meals"  of  the  Far 
West,  that  I  expected  to  find  eating  anything  but  a  luxury 
in  this  country.  In  this  I  have  been  agreeably  surprised. 
I  have  traveled  the  plains  for  three  hundred  miles  by 
stage,  and  the  mountains  for  over  one  hundred  miles, 
and  the  meals  have  been  quite  as  good  as  the  average 
of  hotel  meals  in  the  East.  At  the  Alkali  Station,  fifty 
miles  west  of  the  railroad,  with  not  a  cultivated  field  or 
even  a  garden  within  two  hundred  miles  of  it,  I  had  the 
best  meal  set  before  me  since  I  left  Chicago ;  and  all  along 
the  plains,  and  far  up  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains,  I  have 
found  good  bread  and  butter,  fresh  eggs,  tolerable  ham  and 
beef,  and  often  the  most  delicious  antelope  or  venison 


HIGH  PRICES  OF  LABOR.  105 

broils,  and  I  have  had  canned  fruits  and  vegetables  at 
every  meal,  whether  breakfast,  dinner,  or  supper.  Corn, 
tomatoes,  beans,  oysters,  and  all  kinds  of  fruits  are 
scarcely  luxuries  in  this  far-off  region,  for  they  tempt  the 
appetite  of  the  traveler  every  day.  The  uniform  price  of 
meals  for  travelers  is  $1.50,  and  they  are  usually  paid  for 
most  cheerfully.  By  fall  the  Pacific  Railroad  will  have 
passed  Denver  one  hundred  miles  to  the  north  ;  and  the 
Eastern  Division,  from  Leavenworth  by  Smoky  Hill,  will 
run  direct  to  Denver  in  the  spring  of  1868.  Prices  must 
then  diminish,  as  the  cost  of  transportation  has  heretofore 
been  enormous,  and  living  will  be  nearly  as  cheap  in  Colo- 
rado as  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  high  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life  makes  the  wages 
of  labor  very  high,  and  the  development  of  the  country 
has  thus  been  greatly  retarded.  Ordinary  farm-hands 
command  from  forty-five  to  sixty  dollars  per  month,  with 
boarding,  and  in  the  mining  regions  five  dollars  per  day  is 
a  moderate  price.  But  the  highest  rates,  comparatively, 
are  paid  to  domestics,  for  the  reason  that  female  servants 
are  exceedingly  scarce.  But  few  laboring  women  can  af- 
ford to  come  to  the  Territories,  and  those  who  happen  here 
get  fabulous  wages  The  most  ordinary  female  house-ser- 
vants get  fifty  dollars  per  month,  and  board,  and  good 
female  cooks  command  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred 
dollars  per  month.  One  hundred  ordinarily  good  female 
servants  could  now  find  permanent  employment  in  pleasant 
homes  in  Denver,  at  an  average  of  twelve  dollars  per  week 
and  boarding;  and  three  months'  wages  would  pay  their 
fare  from  the  East  to  this  city.  Besides  the  high  wages  they 
can  get,  they  are  in  equal  demand  in  the  matrimonial 
market.  The  adult  unmarried  population  of  the  Territory 
is  probably  ten  males  to  one  female,  and  here,  as  elsewhere, 
people  continue  to  be  given  in  marriage.  The  importation 

10* 


106  COLONEL   WASH.  LEE. 

of  several  hundred  virtuous,  industrious,  single  females 
into  Colorado  would  be  a  great  benefaction  both  to  the 
females  themselves  and  to  the  people  of  the  Territory. 

I  had  hoped  to  meet  Judge  C.  S.  Eyster  here  by  this 
time,  but  he  is  not  even  reported  on  the  route  as  yet.  He 
is  the  most  popular  official  in  the  Territory,  and  is  anx- 
iously inquired  for  daily.  It  will  be  gratifying  to  his 
many  friends  in  the  East  to  know  that  he  is  deservedly 
esteemed  here  both  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  judge ;  and 
whether  Colorado  shall  be  a  State  or  a  Territory,  Judge 
Eyster  will  share  her  honors. 

I  send  my  kindest  regards  to  Colonel  Wash.  Lee,  of 
Luzerne,  for  the  magnificent  glass  he  sent  me  before  start- 
ing on  my  trip.  With  it  I  can  bring  the  distant  ranges 
alongside  of  the  coach-wheels  as  I  travel  along,  and  can 
fringe  the  green  grass  of  the  prairie  with  the  far-oif  moun- 
tain snows.  I  have  not  yet  tried  it  on  Indians,  as  I  have 
not  lost  any,  and  therefore  do  not  hunt  for  them ;  but,  if 
they  should  come  around  the  edges,  unless  all  appearances 
are  deceptive,  I  could  kill  them  ten  miles  off  with  a  com- 
mon rifle  and  Lee's  glass.  I  trust  that  he  will  take  my 
word  for  this,  as  I  prefer  not  to  practice  shooting  at  red- 
skin targets  during  this  journey. 


LETTER    XL 

Still  Indian-bound  in  Colorado. — End  of  Hancock's  Expedition. — 
Another  Peace-Talk  to  be  had  with  the  Savages. — The  Indians 
raid  the  Overland  Koutes,  while  the  Troops  are  ordered  to  hunt 
Indians  where  they  are  not  to  be  found. — General  Sherman's 
Policy. — Great  Injustice  to  the  West. — The  Tide  of  Emigration 
arrested. — The  Necessity  of  protecting  One  Koute. — Contrac- 
tors said  to  be  encouraging  "War. — The  Sad  Failure  of  Mining 
Companies  in  Colorado. — Their  Hopeless  Future. — Legitimate 
Enterprise  the  only  Way  to  Success  in  the  Mines. — The  Yaria- 
tions  of  Colorado  Climate. — The  Crops. 

DENVEB,  COLORADO,  May  21,  1867. 

I  AM  still  Indian-bound  in  this  city,  and  when  I  can  go 
on  westward  with  reasonable  safety  depends  entirely  upon 
the  enemy,  rather  than  upon  friends.  With  nearly  ten 
thousand  troops  in  the  departments  of  Generals  Hancock 
and  Augur,  there  are  not  any  ten  miles  of  the  two  great 
thoroughfares,  from  the  Missouri  River  to  this  place,  that 
twenty  Indians  could  not  "  clean  out"  any  day.  Hancock 
has  made  one  campaign  against  the  red-skins,  and  with 
what  result  your  readers  well  know.  It  is  now  officially 
announced  that  his  expedition  is  at  an  end,  and  General 
Sherman  has  joined  Hancock  to  go  down  and  have  a 
peace-talk  with  the  same  Indians  who  talked  peace  with 
him  at  Fort  Zarah  and  immediately  proved  their  pacific 
intentions  by  fresh  atrocities.  In  the  mean  time,  while  the 
troops  are  "  bunched "  in  forts,  the  Smoky  Hill  route  is 
the  scene  of  a  fresh  raid  or  murder  almost  daily,  and  the 
coach  passes  solely  because  the  Indians  thus  far  have 

(107) 


108      THE  INDIANS  RAID   THE  OVERLAND   ROUTES. 

allowed  it  to  do  so.  Since  I  have  been  detained  here,  three 
station-keepers  on  that  route  have  been  murdered  by  the 
Indians,  scalped,  their  bodies  cut  to  pieces  and  burned, 
and  several  stations  have  been  robbed  of  stock,  and  ranches 
have  been  destroyed.  There  arc  enough  idle  troops  in  the 
department  to  station  fifty  on  every  mile  of  the  road ;  but 
they  seem  to  be  used  for  every  other  purpose  than  that  for 
which  they  should  be  employed.  On  the  Platte  route  five 
distinct  raids  have  been  made  since  I  have  been  on  it,  one 
station  burned,  and  but  two  days  ago  a  stock-keeper  was 
killed  and  scalped  within  a  mile  of  Fort  Sedgwick.  West, 
the  Indians  have  cleared  the  stage-route  of  stock  for  eighty 
miles, — stealing  part  of  it  and  compelling  the  withdrawal 
of  the  balance, — and  two  men  have  been  scalped.  The  stage 
company  have  declined  to  forward  passengers  west  from 
this  point  since  the  12th  instant,  when  Mr.  Hooper  and 
others  started  and  got  as  far  as  Cooper's  Creek,  where 
they  still  remain.  Judge  Carter  picked  a  party  of  frontier- 
men  and  started,  determined  to  fight  their  way  through 
and  organize  a  force  of  the  Indians  to  escort  the  stage. 
All  these  things  have  occurred  in  a  department  where 
there  are  five  thousand  troops,  with  nearly  the  same  num- 
ber in  Hancock's  department,  immediately  south.  Instead 
of  protecting  the  thoroughfares,  they  are  planning  grand 
campaigns  north  and  south  of  the  lines  of  travel,  leaving 
them  to  be  raided,  ravaged,  and  crimsoned  with  the  blood 
of  the  emigrant  and  traveler  whenever  the  Indians  take  a 
fancy  that  way.  The  stage-line  of  six  hundred  miles  from 
here  to  Salt  Lake,  traversing  all  the  passes  of  the  mountains, 
where  the  best  ambuscades  in  the  world  are  to  be  found, 
has  less  than  three  hundred  soldiers  on  it — two  companies 
of  infantry  at  Fort  Bridger,  just  where  the  Indians  are 
friendly,  and  one  company  of  cavalry,  reduced  by  deser- 
tions and  demoralized  generally.  Instead  of  posting  troops 


GENERAL  SHERMAN'S  POLICY.  109 

on  the  line  to  protect  emigration,  transportation,  and 
tntvel,  General  Augur  (doubtless  acting  under  specific 
orders)  is  busy  preparing  for  a  campaign  into  the  "upper 
country,"  just  where  nobody  thinks  of  going,  and  where 
there  is  nothing  to  protect  but  the  troops  in  the  forts. 
Last  year  the  Reno  and  Phil.  Kearney  route  was  pro- 
nounced open  for  emigration ;  and  hundreds  of  graves 
along  its  entire  length,  with  the  Phil.  Kearney  massacre 
as  the  central  figure,  attest  how  the  promise  was  kept  with 
the  emigrants.  This  year  it  is  accepted  as  hostile  and  im- 
passable, and  two  thousand  troops  are  about  to  march 
along  it,  strengthen  its  posts,  and  play  the  farce  of  pro- 
tecting a  route  that  is  a  stranger  to  the  tread  of  the  white 
man,  while  the  great  thoroughfare  is  practically  abandoned 
by  the  military,  excepting  as  troops  are  huddled  in  huts  here 
and  there  to  mock  the  sojourner. 

I  do  not  hope  to  accomplish  anything  by  stating  the 
facts.  Out  here  no  one  expects  sensible  action  on  the  part 
of  the  military,  and  they  have  to  bow  to  perpetual  imbe- 
cility and  wrong.  General  Sherman  is  presumed  to  have 
more  common  sense  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  com- 
manders ;  but  should  it  be  necessary  to  say  to  him  that 
his  first  duty  to  emigration,  to  the  West,  and  to  the  country 
is  to  determine  upon  some  route  or  routes  to  the  Far  West, 
and  give  adequate,  complete  protection  ?  Colorado,  Mon- 
tana, Idaho,  and  Nebraska  are  inviting  fields  for  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  the. enterprising  and  industrious  people 
of  the  East;  and  the  right  way  to  make  the  West  self-pro- 
tecting is  to  maintain  safe  routes  for  emigration,  so  that 
settlements  may  spring  up  in  this  distant  world  of  wealth. 
When  the  settlers  once  rear  their  homes  or  the  miners 
open  their  claims,  the  Indian  is  doomed  to  peace  or  death. 
He  well  knows  that  red  tape  and  the  circumlocution  of 
pn  eminent  warfare  do  not  obtain  in  the  summary  adjust- 


HO  CONTRACTORS  ENCOURAGING    WAR. 

ment  of  difficulties  between  him  and  them,  and  he  there- 
fore emigrates,  or  smokes  the  pipe  of  peace  in  their  ranches. 
I  doubt  not  that  ten  thousand  people  will  be  prevented 
from  emigrating  to  the  Far  West  this  season  by  the  Indian 
troubles  on  the  great  thoroughfares,  and  this,  too,  when 
there  are  more  than  enough  troops  already  here  to  afford 
the  amplest  protection.  Is  the  government  wise  in  this 
policy  ?  If  it  is,  I  must  confess  that  the  whole  West,  and 
all  who  visit  it,  are  most  fearfully  deluded.  I  know  that 
the  popular  impression  in  the  East,  and  perhaps  the  preva- 
lent conviction  in  official  circles,  is  that  Indian  wars  are 
mere  speculations.  I  am  not  prepared  to  deny  this  as  a 
general  proposition.  I  cannot  resist  the  belief  that  most, 
if  not  all,  Indian  troubles  have  their  origin  in  frauds,  or 
contemplated  frauds,  alike  upon  the  Indians  and  the 
government.  I  hear  it  charged  that  government  con- 
tractors, agents,  and  officers  have  much  to  do  with  the 
creation  of  Indian  wars ;  and  the  suspension  of  travel 
West  is  imputed  to  a  deliberate  purpose  of  certain  con- 
tractors who  wish  to  compel  modified  terms  from  the 
government.  These  grave  suspicions  may  or  may  not  be 
so;  I  have  not  means  of  ascertaining  whether  they  are 
wholly  or  partially  true ;  but  I  do  know  that  if  the 
government  would  throw  its  troops  upon  the  routes  of 
travel  and  make  them  safe  for  the  contractors,  there  could 
be  no  pretext  whatever  for  attempting  to  create  Indian 
troubles.  It  would  seem  that  the  surest  policy  for  the 
government  to  pursue  would  be  to  open  the  lines,  fight,  or 
beat  the  Indians  away  from  them,  and  then  say  to  con- 
tractors, "  The  way  is  open :  perform  your  duty." 

But  enough  of  grumbling  :  it  will  do  no  good.  I  am  but 
repeating  the  earnest  protests  of  the  Western  people  for 
years  against  the  costly  and  terrible  mismanagement  of 
Indian  affairs;  and,  as  they  have  thus  far  been  disregarded, 


SAD  FAILURE   OF  MINING    COMPANIES.         HI 

I  need  not  cherish  the  hope  that  now,  when  silly  cam- 
paigns have  been  deliberately  planned  and  the  troops 
disposed  to  carry  them  out,  the  observations  of  an  humble 
tourist  will  be  heeded.  I  will  get  away  West  as  soon  as 
I  can,  and  have  some  faint  hope  that  to-morrow  will  see 
me  on  the  way  to  Fort  Saunders,  to  take  my  chance  with 
the  rest  in  passing  the  gauntlet  of  the  savages. 

There  is  much  I  would  like  to  say  about  Colorado;  but 
time  and  space  compel  me  to  be  brief.  I  have  visited  her 
gold  and  silver  mines,  and  seen  the  fearful  waste  Eastern 
speculation  has  scattered  in  fatal  profusion  among  them. 
With  countless  wealth  in  the  mountains,  there  are  palpable 
decline  and  distress  in  every  mining  region  I  have  seen. 
Let  me  entreat  Eastern  companies  to  learn  at  once  the 
utter  hopelessness  of  their  enterprises  as  now  organized 
and  managed.  Their  mills  are  almost  wholly  worthless, 
because  they  are  not  adapted  to  the  successful  reduction  of 
the  obstinate  combinations  to  be  found  everywhere  in  the 
Colorado  ores.  Many  companies  now  on  the  very  verge 
of  bankruptcy,  or  actually  in  its  embrace,  have  valuable 
mines,  and  they  cling  to  the  hope  that  they  may  yet  make 
their  enterprises  successful.  It  is  folly;  it  is  madness.  It 
would  be  a  blessing  to  both  Eastern  capitalists  and  Colo- 
rado if  one  vast  fire  should  sweep  the  mills  of  Clear  Creek 
from  existence.  Their  charred  walls  would  not  impede 
progress,  as  do  vast  buildings  with  engines  and  mills  un- 
employed, and  never  to  be  employed,  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted. Equally  foolish,  wasteful,  and  disastrous  must  be 
ev« TV  effort  of  amateurs  to  reduce  the  ores  by  experiments 
with  the  various  processes,  flooding  the  market,  and  tempt- 
ing the  disappointed  stockholder  to  make  another  effort  to 
save  his  investment.  Let  every  Eastern  company  wait 
until  the  problem  is  fully  and  practically  solved  here  among 
the  mines,  and  then  they  may  hope  to  get  more  returns. 


112  VARIATIONS   OF  COLORADO    CLIMATE. 

They  could  profitably  employ  some  capital,  in  the  mean 
time,  by  thoroughly  testing  their  lodes  and  bringing  to 
the  surface  large  quantities  of  ore.  When  the  time  comes 
for  the  successful  reduction  of  these  ores,  the  work  of  re- 
ducing them  will  be  as  distinct  from  mining  as  is  milling 
from  farming.  Where  there  are  good  mines,  therefore,  the 
companies  which  early  accept  the  inevitable  revolution  in 
the  production  of  the  precious  metals  will  yet  attain  suc- 
cess ;  but  let  them  understand  that  these  mills  are,  as  a 
rule,  valueless,  and  the  cost  of  their  construction  an  irre- 
trievable waste.  I  firmly  believe  that  this  year  will  nearly, 
if  not  entirely,  master  these  ores,  so  that  every  good  mine 
can  be  worked  profitably;  but  stockholders  might  as  well 
attempt  to  change  the  fashion  of  the  Snowy  Range  as  to 
persist  in  the  effort  to  mine  and  reduce  these  ores  with 
their  present  machinery.  I  know  that  this  will  be  unwel- 
come information  to  thousands  of  your  readers ;  but  its  truth 
is  fearfully  attested  by  the  sacrifice  of  $20,000,000  in  fruit- 
less efforts  to  refute  it. 

I  have  seen  almost  every  feature  of  the  variegated  climate 
of  Colorado.  I  entered  Denver  through  a  regular  old-fash- 
ioned thunder-storm.  Next  day  I  braved  its  scorching  sun 
and  parching  winds.  I  next  spent  a  day  in  the  mountains, 
starting  with  a  clear  morning  and  a  hot  sun,  soon  to  be 
exchanged  for  a  thunder-shower,  and  that  soon  to  give 
way  to  a  driving  snow-storm — giving  me  sunshine,  rain, 
thunder,  and  snow  in  a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  Since 
then  we  have  had  what  would  pass  for  regular  Pennsyl- 
vania March  storms  of  sleet  and  snow.  Yesterday  the 
snow  fell  all  the  day,  and  now  the  mountain-ranges  are 
clad  in  white,  while  the  plains  have  been  cleared  of  their 
snowy  garb.  Each  year  seems  to  increase  the  number  of 
showers,  and  I  doubt  not  that  both  Colorado  and  Utah 
will  soon  be  farmed  with  very  little,  if  any,  resort  to  irri- 


THE  CROPS.  113 

gation.  It  seems  that  as  the  water  is  conducted  over  the 
plains  by  ditches,  and  spread  over  the  fields,  it  creates 
clouds  and  rains,  and  as  irrigation  is  extended  its  neces 
sity  is  gradually  diminished.  Last  year,  Utah  could  have- 
grown  all  its  field-crops  without  any  resort  to  irrigation, 
and  even  in  Colorado,  where  irrigation  is  in  its  infancy, 
but  little  was  needed  in  the  settled  regions.  But  for  the 
grasshoppers,  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  Territory 
would  be  enjoying  a  high  degree  of  prosperity.  Last  year 
they  did  but  little  harm,  and  the  crop  of  wheat  is  more 
than  equal  to  the  wants  of  the  people.  It  is  now  sold 
cheaper  here  than  in  Philadelphia;  but  oats,  barley,  and 
corn  command  the  same  price  as  wheat — five  cents  per 
pound.  Should  the  mines  be  conquered  by  another  year, 
the  population  of  Colorado  would  double  in  six  months, 
and  agricultural  products  would  command  a  still  higher 
price ;  but,  in  any  event,  farming  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
certain  channels  to  success  in  Colorado. 

I  hope  to  get  away  to-morrow.  If  not,  I  may  go  down 
to  Pike's  Peak  to  visit  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  the  Boiling 
Spring,  etc.,  and  may  write  again  of  Colorado. 


11 


LETTER    XIL* 

A  Journey  to  Colorado  City. — Crossing  the  Divide. — Thunder-  and 
Snow-Storms. — The  Pines. — Bierstadt  and  the  Colorado  Eocks. 
—Storm-staid  at  "The  Dirty  Woman's  Kanch."— A  "Western 
Cabin. — A  Pleasant  and  Hospitable  Hostess. — A  Bright  Fire 
and  Excellent  Supper. — The  Guests  chat  away  the  Evening. — 
The  "Garden  of  the  Gods." — Grandeur  of  the  Monuments. — 
Natural  Pillars  from  Three  to  Five  Hundred  Feet  High. — They 
appear  like  Ruins  of  Colossal  Statuary. — The  Mineral  Springs. 
— Camp  Creek  Canon. — A  Severe  Snow-Storm. — Vain  Attempt 
to  procure  Shelter  from  a  Fugitive  Mormoness. — Petrifactions 
on  the  Platte. 

DENVER,  May  26,  1807. 

THURSDAY,  the  23d,  trunks  packed,  bills  paid.  Coach 
drove  up  at  seven  for  Salt  Lake,  and  we  were  all  at  the  door, 
expecting  to  bid  farewell  to  Colorado  and  its  beautiful 
mountains,  possibly  forever.  Agent  conies  along,  and  in- 
forms us  we  can  only  go  to  Fort  Saunders,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles,  and  will  have  to  remain  there  over  Sunday, 
on  account  of  the  great  accumulation  of  mails  caused  by 
the  Indians  stealing  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  horses.  "  Uncle 
Sam"  makes  the  drivers  take  an  oath  that  they  will  see 
the  mails  through  safe,  giving  the  passengers  the  widest 
liberty  of  looking  out  for  themselves  in  case  of  attacks 

*  This  letter  was  written  by  Mrs.  McClure  to  a  friend,  who  fur- 
nished it  for  publication  in  the  Chambersburg  "  Repository."  As  it 
gives  an  account  of  a  very  interesting  portion  of  Colorado  that  I 
did  not  see,  and  as  the  letter  has  already  been  given  to  the  public, 
I  embrace  it  in  this  collection  of  letters,  to  complete  the  description 
of  the  many  points  of  peculiar  interest  on  the  overland  route. 
(114) 


CROSSING   THE  DIVIDE.  115 

from  the  noble  red  men,  danger  from  high  waters,  or  any 
of  the  other  difficulties  which  are  liable  to  beset  one's  path 
on  a  journey  "Across  the  Continent"  Much  disappointed, 
we  had  our  baggage  moved  again  to  our  rooms,  and  I  at 
once  made  up  my  mind  to  see  Colorado's  greatest  wonders, 
<'  The  Monuments,"  "  Soda  Springs,"  and  the  magnificent 
rocks  called  by  the  pretentious  name  of  the  "  Garden  of 
the  Gods." 

Hired  a  livery  "  turn-out,"  with  a  boy  driver,  and,  with 
W.  and  Mrs.  C.  for  companions,  was-  on  the  road  to  the 
classical  ground  in  less  than  an  hour.  The  weather  was 
not  promising,  and  the  mountains,  especially  the  Snowy 
Range,  were  hidden  from  sight  by  clouds  threatening  and 
sullen  in  aspect.  We  had  not  proceeded  far  when  rain  set 
in.  The  road  was  generally  fine  across  the  plain,  with  a 
gradual  ascent  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles  to  the  Divide,  a  high 
piece  of  ground  separating  the  head-waters  of  the  Arkansas 
from  those  of  the  Platte,  and  famous  for  its  thunder-  and 
snow-storms,  both  of  which  we  encountered.  The  country  is 
diversified  with  groves  of  beautiful  spruce  pines,  so  refresh- 
ing to  an  Eastern  eye  after  the  long  stretches  of  treeless 
prairie  on  the  Platte ;  and  the  hills  on  each  side  are  full  of 
white  sandstone  rocks,  in  broken,  irregular  lines,  looking 
precisely  like  ruins  of  Hindoo  or  Egyptian  temples,  with 
their  broken  arches,  columns,  porticos,  and  overhanging 
towers  in  endless  confusion.  Bierstadt,  it  is  said,  made 
some  beautiful  drawings  of  these  rocks,  but  refused  to 
paint  them,  giving  as  his  reason  that  few  people  would  be- 
lieve- they  were  real  rocks  of  this  continent,  and  would  say 
he  had  taken  some  foreign  ruins  and  tried  to  palm  them  off 
on  the  public  as  specimens  of  Colorado  rock-scenery.  Since 
seeing  them,  I  am  not  surprised  at  his  conclusion. 

The  distance  from  Denver  to  Colorado  City  is  seventy 
miles.  We  drove  fifty  by  six  o'clock;  the  last  twelve 


116  A    WESTERN   CABIN. 

through  a  furious  thunder-storm.  Jove  hurled  his  bolts 
around  us  in  a  manner  terrifying  to  mortal  ears,  and  the 
winds  were  not  gentle  breezes,  but  blew  what  a  sailor 
would  call  "great  guns,"  the  carriage  rocking  at  times  in 
the  blast.  There  are  three  ranches  on  the  road,  known 
by  the  euphonious  names  of  the  "  Red-Headed  Woman's 
Ranch,"  "  Pretty  Woman's  Ranch,"  and  the  "  Dirty  Wo- 
man's Ranch."  After  a  most  tedious  and  anxious  drive, 
we  arrived  at  the  last-named,  so  called  from  the  untidy 
person  and  habits  of  the  divinity  who  once  presided  over  it, 
and  who,  as  the  legend  runs,  finally  died  of  dirt.  The  place 
was  not  inviting;  but,  as  the  gods  seemed  determined  not 
to  be  propitious,  we  concluded  any  sort  of  shelter  was 
preferable  to  a  farther  drive  in  the  pelting  storm  with  a 
tired  team.  The  house  was  a  low  one-story  hut,  divided 
into  four  small  rooms,  devoid  of  almost  all  comfort.  One 
ordinary-sized  pane  of  glass  constituted  the  window  in  the 
"room,"  as  it  was  called.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a 
round  pine  table,  covered  with  an  old  white  muslin  cloth ; 
three  chairs  (one  wooden,  one  split-bottom,  and  one  with 
seat  composed  of  strips  of  calf-  or  cow-skin  plaited  across), 
a  small  looking-glass,  half  broken  away,  the  remainder, 
from  familiar  marks  upon  it,  looking  as  if  it  had  not  seen 
water  since  the  previous  summer,  and  indicating  clearly 
that  the  flies  were  the  sole  possessors  and  the  only  vain 
members  of  the  family;  a  small  trough,  in  which  was  a 
wooden  bucket  with  ladle;  a  tin  wash-basin;  and  on  a 
nail  opposite  hung  a  homespun'  towel.  The  walls  were 
papered  with  "  Harper's  Weekly,"  leaves  from  the  "Atlantic 
Monthly, "etc.,  which  served  us  for  reading-matter  for  a  half- 
hour  or  so,  and  struck  us  as  "  useful  as  well  as  ornamental." 
The  sole  occupant  was  a  little  girl,  five  or  six  years  of  age, 
who  sat  shivering  over  a  scanty  fire  in  a  cook-stove  in  the 
kitchen.  On  inquiry  for  the  mistress,  she  informed  us  she 


A    BRIGHT  FIRE  AND  EXCELLENT  SUPPER.      Hf 

was  milking.  She  soon  made  her  appearance ;  a  tall, 
pleasant-faced  woman,  with  a  pair  of  beautiful  brown  eyes. 
I  knew  at  a  glance  that  a  kind  heart  had  written  the  lines  so 
easily  read  there,  and,  in  spite  of  ill  health,  advancing  age, 
and  poverty,  they  had  maintained  their  sway.  She  made 
many  apologies  for  her  rude  home,  but  said  she  would 
make  us  as  comfortable  as  possible.  In  a  few  minutes 
pine  chunks  and  sticks  were  placed  endways  (no  andirons) 
in  the  rudely-built  chimney,  and  soon  a  roaring  fire  lighted 
up  the  bare  walls  and  floor  with  a  glow  peculiarly  its  own. 
We  were  soon  cosey  and  comfortable,  drying  our  clothes 
and  wondering  what  the  "  folks  at  home"  would  say  could 
they  take  a  peep  at  our  experience  of  frontier  life.  In  a 
little  time  supper  was  announced.  As  we  had  only  lunched 
instead  of  dined  that  day,  we  did  ample  justice  to  the  fare, 
which  was  excellent, — much  better  than  we  had  expected 
from  the  appearance  of  the  hovel.  Delicious  soda-biscuit, 
poached  eggs,  ham,  honey,  coffee,  butter,  and  cream,  consti- 
tuted the  bill  of  fare.  The  pasture  is  so  fine  that  butter  and 
milk  are  unusually  good — much  better  than  we  had  tasted 
since  leaving  home.  The  dining-room  furniture  consisted 
of  an  old  pine  sideboard,  and  a  long  table  with  a  bench  on 
each  side  for  seats.  One  pane  of  glass  served  for  a  window. 
Two  storm-beaten  travelers  of  the  bifurcated  species  were 
added  to  our  party, — one  an  old  frontiersman  from  the  San 
Luis  Valley,  an  eighteen-year  resident  of  the  country.  After 
supper,  "  we  formed  around  the  ingle  a  circle  wide,"  the 
old  pioneer  leading  in  the  conversation,  giving  us  many 
interesting  accounts  of  the  settling  of  the  Territory  and  of 
the  Indians.  The  latter  he  hates  most  intensely,  and,  like 
all  the  other  settlers,  thinks  Chivington  and  Conner  the 
only  two  men  who  can  keep  the  Indians  at  peace  with  the 
white  men.  We  each  chatted  our  favorite  hobby;  mine, 
of  course,  was  border-warfare  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 

11* 


118  THE  "GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS." 

our  experience  with  the  chivalry.  About  nine  o'clock  our 
hostess  made  her  appearance  with  a  tallow  candle,  in  the 
most  primitive  of  tin  candlesticks,  and  offered  to  show  us 
to  bed.  Bidding  "  good-night"  to  the  pioneer  who  had 
entertained  us  so  pleasantly,  we  followed  the  "  brown 
eyes."  Our  room — about  six  by  ten  or  twelve,  no  win- 
dow, not  even  a  crevice  for  fresh  air — looked  like  a  huge 
store-box.  In  this  were  two  clean-looking  beds,  with  just 
room  for  one  to  stand  between  them.  The  bedsteads  con- 
sisted of  two  posts  or  pine  logs  fastened  in  each  side  of 
the  wall,  and  the  beds  were  made  on  them.  The  only  fur- 
niture was  a  small  stool  on  which  to  set  the  candle.  After 
retiring,  being  really  very  comfortable,  we  were  soon  made 
oblivious  by  "tired  nature's  sweet  restorer,  balmy  sleep," 
and  did  not  wake  until  called  to  breakfast. 

After  that  very  important  meal,  we  paid  our  bill  ($10), 
hitched  up  our  horses,  found  them  gay  as  ourselves  after 
the  night's  rest,  bade  good-by  to  our  kind  hostess  and  the 
guests  (the  old  pioneer  hoping  "it  would  burn  out" — 
meaning  clear  off — before  we  had  gone  far),  and  started  for 
the  remaining  drive  of  twenty  miles.  The  clouds  were 
threatening,  and  in  a  little  time  poured  torrents  of  rain 
upon  us.  The  mountains  were  completely  veiled  in  the 
mist ;  had  it  not  been  for  the  sandstone  rocks  in  their  pic- 
turesque ruin  the  ride  would  have  been  a  dreary  one. 
We  passed  Monument  Creek,  eight  miles  this  side  of  Colo- 
rado City,  in  the  rain,  and  concluded  to  visit  it  on  our 
return.  As  we  approached  the  "  Garden  of  the  Gods," 
the  clouds  lifted  a  little,  and  the  sun  gave  us  a  few  dreary 
smiles  as  we  entered.  And  such  an  entrance !  Here  my 
pen  fails  to  give  any  correct  idea  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
rocks.  On  either  side  towers  a  sandstone  rock  of  bright 
brick  color,  from  three  to  five  hundred  feet  in  height,  and 
seventy-five  to  a  hundred  or  more  in  length  ;  at  a  little  dis- 


THE  MINERAL  SPRINGS.  119 

tance  in  front,  directly  in  the  pathway,  stands  another,  of 
grotesque  form,  looking  like  some  colossal  sentinel  placed 
there  to  guard  the  sacred  inclosure.  After  passing  his 
majesty,  numbers  of  these  bright-red  rocks  meet  the  eye 
on  every  side,  looking  like  ruins  of  colossal  statuary, 
their  sides  marked  and  seamed  with  the  snows  and  rains  of 
ages.  We  spent  an  hour  wandering  among  these  stupen- 
dous monuments  of  the  Creator's  power,  gathered  a  few 
wild  flowers,  broke  some  pieces  of  rock,  to  take  with  us 
as  souvenirs,  looked  again  and  again,  and  could  scarcely 
tear  ourselves  away.  But  the  clouds  gave  ominous  signs, 
and,  with  many  regrets,  we  took  our  seats  in  the  carriage 
and  finished  our  drive  of  one  and  a  half  miles  to  Colorado 
City. 

Here  our  patience  was  sorely  tried.  The  hotel  had 
changed  proprietors,  the  new  one  having  moved  the  day 
before,  and  everything  was  "  confusion  worse  confounded." 
The  Soda  Springs,  three  miles  north,  being  the  next  on 
the  list  of  curiosities,  we  hoped  after  dinner  to  be  able  to 
drive  there  and  spend  the  afternoon;  but  it  rained  inces- 
santly, and  we  were  obliged  to  give  it  up  for  that  day. 
Retired  early,  and,  in  spite  of  bedbugs  and  other  luxuries 
too  numerous  to  mention,  slept  soundly.  By  our  own  re- 
quest, we  were  called  at  half-past  five.  The  sun  had  just 
risen  over  the  mountains,  lighting  up  the  snowy  crest  of 
Pike's  Peak  (fifteen  miles  away)  with  the  rosiest  hues,  lift- 
ing the  vapory  clouds  from  the  foot-hills  and  the  middle 
range  and  sending  them  in  myriads  of  graceful  forms  up  the 
mountain-sides,  striking  the  immense  white  and  red  sand- 
stone rocks  near  the  "  Garden  of  the  Gods,"  and  making  alto- 
gether a  most  gorgeous  and  never-to-be-forgotten  picture. 
These  beautiful  red  rocks  extended  along  most  of  our  way 
to  the  springs.  One  in  particular  attracted  us  from  its 
to  the  pictures  we  see  of  the  Coliseum.  The 


120  CAMP   CREEK  CANON. 

springs  are  three  in  number,  and  bubble  up  out  of  the 
ground  in  the  merriest  way,  emptying  into  the  "  fontaine 
qui  bouille"  (boiling  fountain),  named,  I  suppose,  from  the 
swiftness  of  the  current  and  the  noise  it  makes  in  rushing 
over  the  rocks  and  pebbles  in  its  bed.  The  water  is  very 
strongly  impregnated  with  soda,  and  with  lemon  or  other 
syrups  makes  a  most  delicious  drink.  The  water,  as  it 
runs  from  the  springs  into  the  stream,  deposits  a  calca- 
reous tufa,  white  and  in  waves,  looking  almost  like  snow- 
drifts. I  should  have  been  glad  to  bring  away  specimens, 
but  had  not  room  in  my  valise.  There  are  no  fish  in  the 
"  fontaine  qui  bouille;"  they  don't  like  the  soda-water,  it 
is  said,  although  the  stream  looks  like  our  trout  streams. 
Near  one  of  the  soda  springs  is  a  small  iron  spring;  and 
doubtless  when  the  place  is  prospected,  as  it  will  be,  there 
will  be  other  springs  found  of  valuable  medicinal  proper- 
ties. Many  persons  visit  these  springs  now  for  rheuma- 
tism, scrofula,  etc.,  and  are  always  much  benefited.  A 
hotel  is  talked  of;  and,  should  it  be  built,  the  place  will  be 
very  attractive.  We  had  an  hour  there,  and  then  the  clouds 
gathered. 

We  drove  home  through  the  "Garden  of  the  Gods;" 
stopped  at  Camp  Creek  Canon  to  see  the  rocks  there,  and 
found  them  equal  in  grandeur  to  their  brothers.  I  slipped 
into  the  creek  and  got  my  feet  wet.  We  rode  eight  miles 
to  Monument  Creek ;  raining  and  very  disagreeable.  Here 
we  found  a  still  more  wonderful  rock-formation.  At  a  little 
distance  some  groups,  hidden  as  they  are  by  pine-trees, 
look  like  a  huge  cemetery,  the  rocks  running  up  in  columns 
land  single  shafts  from  six  to  fifty  feet  in  height;  others 
look  precisely  like  groups  of  Shakers  in  capes  and  broad 
brims.  By  moonlight  they  must  have  a  weird,  wild  look  ; 
and  one  could  imagine  them  the  ghosts  of  giantesses  sent 
back  to  hold  some  special  conclave  on  material  subjects. 


PETRIFACTIONS   ON  THE  PLATTE.  121 

Our  ride  home  was  through  one  of  the  most  severe  snow- 
storms I  have  ever  been  in.  Once  the  road  was  so  drifted 
that  we  were  fearful  we  had  missed  it  and  were  driving  at 
random  on  the  prairies.  The  snow  blew  in  our  faces, 
covering  the  blankets  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  inches. 
A  hut  looming  in  sight,  we  drove  to  it.  Such  squalor  and 
poverty  I  never  saw  before,  and  hope  I  shall  never  see 
again.  The  hut  was  floorless,  and  leaking  in  every  part;  the 
children  were  put  to  bed  to  keep  warm,  and  I  really  be- 
lieve the  mother  was  insane.  She  had  a  wild  look  about 
the  eyes,  and  her  dress  was  very  eccentric.  She  had  run 
away  from  the  Mormons,  and  had  been  in  this  hut  only 
four  days;  the  storm  coming  on,  she  could  not  look  for 
food,  work,  or  anything  else.  I  was  heart-sick,  and  de- 
termined that  a  night  on  the  plains  was  preferable  to  staying 
there.  Finding  we  were  not  lost  yet,  and  hoping  to  be 
able  to  keep  the  road,  I  slipped  some  money  in  her  hand, 
and  started  again  in  the  frightful  storm.  We  reached 
Denver  at  half-past  four  o'clock,  wet  to  the  skin  and  per- 
fectly benumbed  with  cold,  and  did  not  have  an  ache  or 
pain  after.  One  peculiarity  of  this  climate  is,  that,  however 
drenched  and  cold  you  may  be,  you  rarely  ever  suffer  from 
it,  particularly  if  you  have  flannel  next  the  skin.  The 
snow  was  two  feet  deep  in  the  mountains. 

This  is  Sunday.  I  have  been  interrupted  all  the  time  ; 
and,  as  we  expect  to  leave  for  Salt  Lake  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, have  concluded  to  finish  to-day.  Yesterday  I  spent  the 
day  on  the  banks  of  the  Platte,  sixteen  and  a  half  miles 
from  here,  in  search  of  petrified  fish  and  other  curiosities. 
I  saw  fish  almost  a  foot  long  imbedded  in  the  rocks,  with 
a  pearly  case  around  them,  which  on  exposure  to  the  sun 
reflects  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  They  are,  however, 
so  brittle  that  we  could  only  get  pieces  of  them.  The 
specimens  of  petrified  wood  are  beautiful.  I  will  have 
quite  a  nice  cabinet  if  all  reach  home  in  good  condition. 


LETTER    XIII. 

Storm-bound  in  Denver.  —  An  Old-fashioned  Eastern  Settled 
Eain. — The  " Oldest  Inhabitant"  cannot  explain  it.  —  Rapid 
Rise  of  the  Mountain-Streams. — The  Stage  stopped  by  the 
Flood. — Peril  of  Passengers  in  crossing  a  Little  Stream. — 
Prospects  of  Indian  Raids. — No  "  Friendlies"  visible  but  the 
Utes. — The  First  Settlers  of  Colorado. — Legislation  to  defeat 
Foreign  Creditors. — Summary  Execution  of  Part  of  Quantrell's 
Band. — Agricultural  Productions  of  Colorado. 

DENYEK,  COLORADO,  June  1,  1867. 

STILL  in  Colorado.  The  snow-clad  ranges  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  which  awakened  such  enthusiasm  when  I  first 
beheld  them,  have  become  common  and  uninteresting  in 
my  anxiety  to  get  out  from  this  Indian  and  weather  im- 
prisonment. Think  of  it,  in  this  usually  sun-parched  land, 
where  vegetation  gasps  for  the  artificial  stream  and  withers 
in  its  absence — a  regular  storm  of  eight  days'  duration. 
Just  a  regular,  old-fashioned,  Eastern  settled  rain,  much  to 
the  surprise  of  the  oldest  inhabitant,  and  defying  all  the 
weather-wise  of  the  city  to  explain  the  order  of  its  coming. 
And  what  was  rain  in  Denver  was  snow  and  rain  on  the 
first  and  second  ranges,  and  a  regular  driving  winter  snow- 
storm^on  the  Snowy  Range.  But  gradually  the  frosty  breath 
of  winter  reached  out  from  the  mountains  to  the  plains, 
until  it  chilled  the  storm  eastward  two  hundred  miles,  and 
robed  the  eastern  prairies  in  spotless  white.  Just  as  we 
•were  about  to  enter  the  threshold  of  summer,  Old  Winter 
crowned  himself  in  his  proudest  attire,  and  bade  the  blos- 
soms and  verdure  of  the  plains  and  mountain-forests  wait 
(122) 


RAPID  RISE   OF  MOUNTAIN-STREAMS.  123 

for  a  more  convenient  season.  For  eight  days  the  sun  did 
not  appear.  At  times  the  clouds  would  lift  up  along  the 
mountains  and  give  us  the  faint  promise  of  a  ray  of  sun- 
shine ;  but  soon  the  storm-king  would  assert  his  imperious 
sway  again,  and  the  flitting  snow-storm  would  frolic  with 
the  mountain-peaks,  hurled  hither  and  thither  in  fantastic 
forms  and  flights,  while  the  lightning  kissed  the  plains 
and  rocked  them  with  its  thunders. 

In  this  country,  where  the  mountains  shed  the  rains  and 
melting  snows  so  speedily,  the  streams  rise  and  fall  with 
marvelous  rapidity.  The  road  to  Salt  Lake  was  utterly 
impassable  for  several  days,  and  is  now  unfit  to  be  traveled. 
The  little  rivulets,  which  are  dry  most  of  the  time,  and 
usually  can  be  stepped  without  wetting  the  feet,  rose  from 
ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  a  few  hours,  when  the  temperature 
moderated  so  as  to  turn  the  falling  snow  to  rain  and  add 
the  melting  snow  to  the  current  of  the  water.  The  rude 
bridges  were  swept  away,  and  the  coaches  were  brought 
to  a  stand.  One  coach  coming  in  from  the  west  was 
swept  down  the  stream  in  Thompson's  Creek,  the  lead- 
horses  drowned,  the  stage  whirled  over  by  the  resistless 
current,  and  the  passengers  saved  only  after  almost  super- 
human efforts  to  get  out  of  a  stream  but  twenty  feet  in 
width.  But  they  fall  as  rapidly  as  they  rise,  and  in  three 
days  of  good  weather  the  results  of  an  eight  days'  storm 
will  scarcely  be  perceptible  on  the  roads.  To-day.the  sun 
dawned  upon  us  almost  without  a  cloud  to  shadow  his 
splendor,  and  by  Monday  we  hope  to  start  for  Salt  Lake 
with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  a  safe  and  pleasant  journey. 
True,  the  Indians  may  return  with  the  return  of  good 
weather;  but  that  is  a  chance  all  travelers  on  the  Plains 
must  take,  and  they  do  it  without  borrowing  trouble  on 
account  of  it.  It  is  not  doubted  by  the  oldest  settlers, 
who  understand  the  habits  and  can  judge  of  the  temper  of 


124  THE  FIRST  SETTLERS   OF  COLORADO. 

the  Indians,  that  there  will  be  a  general  outbreak  in  some 
portion  of  the  overland  route  as  soon  as  the  Indians  have 
stolen  enough  horses  to  mount  their  warriors  and  the 
grass  is  sufficiently  grown  to  sustain  their  stock  on  the 
march.  Just  where  they  will  strike,  no  one  pretends  to 
guess,  as  they  can  assail  the  great  line  of  travel  anywhere 
for  six  hundred  miles  with  equal  facility.  Among  the 
many  signs  of  a  general  Indian  outbreak,  the  most  signifi- 
cant is  the  entire  absence  of  friendly  Indians  on  the  line. 
When  they  are  at  peace,  they  crowd  around  the  stations 
and  ranches  with  their  squaws  and  papooses,  begging  and 
stealing  everything  they  can  get;  but  this  spring  I  did 
not  see  an  Indian  on  the  road  from  the  Missouri  to  Denver. 
Here  the  Utes  wander  through  the  streets  daily;  but  they 
are  now,  and  ever  have  been,  peaceable. 

The  history  of  the  peopling  of  a  new  Territory  like 
Colorado  is  a  most  interesting  study.  It  had  no  tide  of 
emigration  until  rich  gold  diggings  had  been  discovered, 
and  nine-tenths  of  those  who  came  at  first  were  either 
fugitives  or  adventurers.  In  one  mingled  mass  came  the 
honest  bankrupt,  the  fugitive  from  justice,  the  gambler, 
and  the  loafer,  all  trusting  to  some  new  turn  in  the  capri- 
cious smiles  of  fortune.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Terri- 
torial legislature  prohibited  the  collection  of  claims  against 
any  of  the  residents  of  Colorado,  for  the  benefit  of  non- 
resident creditors,  for  the  period  of  five  years ;  and  no  one 
was  brave  enough  to  test  the  infamy  and  impotency  of  the 
statute  in  the  courts.  It  would  have  been  just  worth  an 
attorney's  life,  in  the  early  days  of  Colorado,  to  have  at- 
tempted the  collection  of  foreign  claims  by  process ;  and 
none  dared  to  do  it.  In  such  a  mass  of  reckless  residents, 
of  course  the  desperate  soon  gained  the  mastery,  and  mur- 
ders were  of  such  frequent  occurrence,  without  any  pretense 
of  justice,  that  finally  the  Vigilance  Committee  was  forced 


EXECUTION  OF  PART  OF  QUANTRELUS  BAND.      125 

into  existence,  and  executed  thieves  and  murderers  and 
gamblers  relentlessly,  until  they  were  either  driven  away 
or  subordinated  to  the  safety  of  society. 

But,  while  the  Vigilance  Committee  has  served  its  pur- 
pose and  disbanded,  it  has  left  its  impress  indelibly  stamped 
upon  the  character  of  the  settlers.  There  remains  a  reck- 
lessness of  life  that  would  appall  any  old  settlement  in  the 
East.  If  a  bad  man  is  discovered  in  any  of  the  mining 
regions,  the  law  is  considered  too  slow  and  too  doubtful 
in  the  administration  of  justice.  After  the  sacking  of  Law- 
rence, Kansas,  by  Quantrell,  thirty-one  of  his  gang  came 
to  Colorado  in  a  body,  and  scattered  through  the  Territory. 
Numerous  thefts  and  several  murders  followed,  and  they 
were  charged — justly,  I  believe — to  these  rebel  desperadoes. 
The  miners  at  once  organized  parties  and  commenced  a 
hunt  for  them.  They  were  overtaken  several  times,  several 
killed  each  time,  and  finally  all  the  survivors  were  cap- 
tured, with  a  single  exception.  Their  captors  returned,  but 
they  were  without  prisoners,  and  the  explanation  given  was 
that  they  had  tied  the  prisoners  to  a  tree  and  they  had 
killed  themselves  pulling  at  the  ropes  to  get  away.  No 
inquiry  was  made  by  any  one  beyond  ascertaining  the  fact 
that  there  would  be  no  more  disturbances  by  Quantrell's 
men.  Gradually,  however,  the  majesty  of  the  law  is  gain- 
ing ground  in  every  part  of  the  Territory,  and  the  suprem- 
acy of  order  will  be  maintained  by  all  classes. 

When  Colorado  shall  have  recovered  from  the  terrible 
incubus  of  bankrupt  corporations,  now  holding  the  most 
valuable  mines  without  the  ability  to  develop  them  suc- 
cessfully, her  destiny  must  be  a  great  and  prosperous  one. 
There  are  no  insuperable  barriers  to  the  growth  of  all  the 
cereals,  fruits,  vegetables,  etc.  of  the  Eastern  States,  and 
some  of  them  are  produced  in  matchless  perfection.  With 
the  climate  and  soil  to  produce  bread  and  every  kind  of 

12 


126  FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  COLORADO. 

food  for  treble  the  population  of  Pennsylvania,  and  with 
the  boundless  mineral  wealth  of  her  mountains,  Colorado 
must  some  day  become  one  of  the  mightiest  and  wealthiest 
commonwealths  of  the  Union. 

But  again  I  bid  adieu  to  Colorado,  and  hope  next  to 
write  you  from  the  now  green  pastures  and  fragrant  flowers 
of  the  Saints,  six  hundred  miles  farther  toward  the  setting 
sun. 


LETTER    XI Y. 

Off  from  Denver. — The  Party. — Our  Arms. — Indians  in  Front 
and  Rear. — Swollen  Streams. — Crossing  Boulder. — Virginia 
Dale.  —  The  Savages  uncomfortably  Close.  —  Prospect  of  a 
Brush.— Passing  the  Black  Hills.— Tactics  of  the  Indians.— 
When  they  attack. — Arrival  at  Cooper's  Creek. — The  Stage- 
Horses  stolen  by  the  Indians. — The  Policy  of  the  Military. — 
An  Escort  of  Three  Troopers.— Fort  Halleck.— Elk  Mountain. 
— Running  the  Gauntlet  of  an  Indian  Camp. — The  Driver  and 
his  Strategy. — A  Hasty  Drive. — North  Platte. — The  Indians  on 
the  War-Path  ahead. — A  Council  of  War. — A  Forward  Move- 
ment decided  on. — A  Bright  but  Deceptive  Morning. — The 
First  Station  abandoned,  and  the  Second  burning. — A  Sober 
Dinner-Party  at  Pine  Grove. — A  Pitiless  Snow-Storm. — The 
Station  burning  on  the  Summit  of  the  Rocky  Range. — Our 
Situation  most  critical. — "  Big  Dick." — Fresh  Tracks,  and  a 
Line  of  Battle  necessary.— Dick's  Disposal  of  the  Lady.— The 
"  Cusses"  overtaken. — A  Mutual  Retreat. — Firing  forbidden  by 
Dick. — Arrival  at  Sulphur  Spring. — The  Horses  captured  there 
the  same  Day. — The  Battle  the  Day  before. — A  Melancholy 
Stage-Drive. — Captain  Wilson's  Apology  to  General  Sherman. 
— The  Accommodations. — The  Alarm. — Westward  again. 

SULPHUR  SPRING  STATION,         1 
ROCKY  MOUNTAINS,  June  7,  1867.   / 

ON  the  3d  instant  we  bade  good-by  to  Denver,  but  not 
without  serious  misgivings  as  to  our  success  in  getting 
through  the  favorite  retreats  of  the  "  friendlies,"  as  the 
Indians  are  termed  by  the  Western  people.  Our  party  con- 
sisted of  seven,  all  going  clear  through, — viz.,  Mr.  Perry, 
of  Missouri,  an  old  freighter  of  fifteen  years'  experience, 
intelligent,  and  brave  as  he  is  unassuming ;  Dr.  Cass,  of 

(127) 


128  SWOLLEN  STREAMS. 

Denver,  who  had  crossed  the  Plains  over  a  dozen  times ; 
Mr.  Phelps,  of  New  York,  who  was  making  his  third  trip; 
and  our  Pennsylvania  party,  consisting  of  McKibben,  Mrs. 
McC.,  W.,  and  myself.  We  were  all  well  armed — had 
three  repeating  rifles,  three  of  the  best  breech-loaders,  and 
from  one  to  two  first-class  revolvers  each.  Had  the  eastern 
route  been  safe,  we  would  all  have  willingly  retraced  our 
steps  to  the  Missouri  River  and  proceeded  to  Montana  by 
boat,  and  taken  the  chances  to  return  overland  in  the  fall ; 
but  the  Indians  seemed  to  be  more  numerous  and  quite 
as  hostile  and  savage  on  the  Platte  and  Smoky  Hill  routes 
from  Denver  to  the  Missouri,  as  on  the  route  to  Salt  Lake. 
We  were  thus  between  two  Indian  fires,  as  it  were,  and 
without  apparent  choice  as  to  safety :  so  we  finally  resolved 
that  we  would  go  through  the  mountains,  and  take  the 
chances  of  coming  out  with  whole  scalps.  Our  route  once 
determined  upon,  the  greatest  obstacle  was  removed ;  and, 
after  many  ominous  shakes  of  the  head  by  friends,  and 
much  cheap  advice,  as  they  bade  us  farewell,  we  started  out 
on  as  bright  a  morning  as  the  East  could  have  furnished. 

The  streams  were  still  high  from  the  recent  storms,  and 
we  apprehended  some  trouble  with  them  for  the  first  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles;  but,  as  we  supposed  so  much  of  the 
road  to  be  clear  of  the  Indians,  we  did  not  complain  of 
extra  jolts,  or  frequent  walks  up  hills  and  over  deep  mud- 
holes.  We  considered  a  stick  in  the  mud,  an  upset,  a  walk 
or  wade  through  a  rebellious  stream,  or  anything  of  that 
sort,  a  luxury,  if  not  mixed  up  with  the  war-whoop  of  the 
son  of  the  forest.  When  we  came  to  Boulder,  a  stream 
that  ordinarily  can  be  stepped  over  in  the  dry  season,  it 
had  appropriated  several  acres  of  contiguous  territory,  and 
made  bogs  which  would  have  swallowed  up  the  team, 
coach,  driver,  passengers,  and  baggage.  Fortunately,  it 
ran  through  an  agricultural  settlement,  and  there  was  a 


VIRGINIA   DALE.  129 

fence  across  it,  made  of  pine  poles,  neither  trimmed  nor 
barked,  and  the  gentlemen  passengers  were  invited  to 
walk  the  pole  fence  for  a  distance  of  forty  rods.  We 
strung  out  on  it,  and  crawled  or  climbed  along,  sometimes 
walking,  at  other  times  creeping,  now  astride,  and  again 
hang-ing  on  to  the  side,  or  calling  to  our  aid  the  profoundest 
strategy  to  flank  a  rough,  knotty  post,  until  the  boisterous 
mountain  Rubicon  was  passed.  Most  of  us  came  out  with 
numerous  scratches  on  the  hands  and  various  unpoetical 
rents  in  our  breeches;  but  as  they  were  invisible  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  and  as  none  of  us  have  had  any  of 
our  clothing  off  as  yet,  since  we  started,  but  our  hats,  we 
have  not  taken  a  careful  account  of  damages.  When  we 
get  to  the  land  of  the  Saints, — if  we  ever  do, — we  may  have 
time  to  look  up  the  necessary  improvements  in  our  gar- 
ments. 

Excepting  an  occasional  tussle  with  a  creek  or  a  bog, 
we  got  along  quite  well  until  we  reached  Virginia  Dale 
the  next  morning,  about  ten  o'clock,  for  breakfast.  We  had 
made  ninety-nine  miles  in  a  little  more  than  twenty-four 
hours,  and  were  congratulating  ourselves  that  a  week 
might  land  us  among  the  long-wished-for  Mormons.  At 
Virginia  Dale  we  had  an  excellent  breakfast  of  antelope- 
steak,  with  fresh  egg>  and  fine  potatoes  and  coffee ;  but 
they  would  hash  up  the  Indian  with  it.  The  first  news 
we  heard  was  that  the  Indians  had  just  cleaned  the  place 
of  a  mule-team,  and  that  the  Black  Hills,  just  beyond  on 
our  route,  were  full  of  Indians — their  spies  having  been 
seen  for  several  days,  and  their  signals  at  night.  The 
151ack  Hills  are  a  series  of  spurs  from  the  Hooky  llanu-e, 
and  are  a  wild  confusion  of  rude  bluffs  and  ravines,  with 
interminable  windings  and  occasional  thickets  of  stunted 
oT,,\vth — all  peculiarly  adapted  to  Indian  attacks.  The 
landlord  at  the  station,  and  the  drivers,  agreed  that  we 

12* 


130  PASSING   THE  BLACK  HILLS. 

stood  a  fair  chance  for  a  brush  with  the  Indians,  and  they 
posted  us  as  fully  as  possible  as  to  the  proper  precautions 
and  best  system  of  defense.  We  had  expected  when  we 
started  from  Denver  to  find  Indians  some  sixty  miles 
ahead,  from  Cooper's  Creek  to  the  North  Platte,  as  they 
had  been  operating  on  that  line  but  a  short  time  before ; 
but  here  we  had  the  savage  on  our  path  at  least  a  day 
before  we  had  contracted  for  his  society.  There  was  but 
one  remedy,  however ;  and  that  was,  to  go  ahead,  keeping 
our  heads  steady  and  our  powder  dry. 

We  passed  the  Black  Hills  in  safety,  notwithstanding 
the  alarming  prophecies  of  our  Virginia  Dale  friends ;  but 
we  allowed  the  Indians  no  particular  chances  on  us  that 
we  could  prevent.  We  sent  out  a  skirmish-line  at  every 
dangerous  pass  or  bluff,  and  exercised  every  possible  cau- 
tion. Our  guns  were  never  out  of  our  hands.  When 
sleeping,  they  were  kept  loaded  and  resting  on  our  knees, 
with  the  muzzles  projecting  a  little  out  at  the  sides  of  the 
coach;  and  when  eating,  they  were  stacked  within  reach. 
The  tactics  of  the  Indians  is  ever  to  surprise  and  confuse 
travelers  or  soldiers  by  their  fiendish  war-whoop ;  and  if 
they  fail  in  their  attempted  surprise  they  will  flee  from 
one-fourth  their  number  of  resolute  men.  At  Big  Laramie 
we  had  dinner  about  four  in  the  afternoon,  and  there 
learned  that  the  Indians  were  along  the  line,  swooping 
down  upon  stock  wherever  an  opportunity  presented,  and 
scalping  the  herders.  During  the  evening  we  had  a 
pleasant  road  to  go  over,  free  of  bluffs  and  ravines,  and 
night  came  before  we  had  reached  any  localities  where 
Indians  could  conceal  themselves.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  the  Indians  always  select  either  evening  or  morning, 
just  after  sunset  or  before  sunrise,  to  attack,  when  they 
can ;  and  they  will  rarely  attack  at  night.  They  do  not 
attack  at  night,  because  they  never  risk  the  danger  of 


STA  G E- HORSES  STOLEN  B  T  THE  INDIA  NS.      131 

meeting  unexpected  numbers;  and  they  select  evening  and 
morning,  because  travelers  are  generally  weary  in  the 
evening,  and  in  the  morning  they  are  drowsy  or  sleeping. 
They  never  attack  a  train  or  a  coach  without  first  accurately 
counting  every  man  and  gun  in  the  party.  This  they  can 
do  from  the  bluffs  during  the  day,  and  then  follow  up  the 
party  or  signal  to  others  of  their  band  on  the  line  ahead. 

About  three  in  the  morning  we  reached  Cooper's  Creek, 
and  found  no  horses  to  take  us  on.  The  Indians  had 
captured  the  stock  but  a  few  days  before,  scalped  one  of 
the  herders,  and  there  would  be  no  team  for  us  until  the 
coach  arrived  from  the  west  and  the  horses  had  been 
rested  and  fed.  As  usual,  there  was  but  one  rude  bed  in 
the  shanty,  and  that  was  occupied  by  the  station-keeper, 
his  wife,  and  two  children.  He  was  gallant  enough, 
however,  to  give  his  share  of  the  bed  to  Mrs.  McC.,  and 
the  rest  of  us  formed  a  circle  around  the  stove,  rolled  our-  _ 
selves  up  in  our  robes  and  blankets  on  the  ground-floor, 
and  soon  were  sound  asleep.  At  seven  we  were  waked 
for  breakfast,  and  had  a  good  "square  meal"  on  elk-steak 
and  potatoes.  No  western  coach  having  arrived,  we 
started  on  with  our  old  team  about  eleven  o'clock,  and 
had  a  cavalry  escort  of  three  men  to  protect  us.  Colonel 
Mizner,  of  Fort  Saunders,  is  charged  with  the  protection 
of  the  route  from  Denver  to  Fort  Bridger,  a  distance  of 
five  hundred  miles,  and  has  to  protect  a  corps  of  railroad 
engineers  in  addition.  To  do  this,  he  has  sixty  cavalry 
and  sixty  infantry — -just  about  enough  to  protect  twenty 
nii]<-s  of  the  road.  He  has  appealed  for  an  additional 
force ;  but  the  authorities  are  still  waiting  to  see  whether  we 
are  to  have  war  or  not,  and  they  leave  the  whole  overland 
route  unprotected,  to  tempt  Indians  to  steal  and  murder, 
while  the  problem  of  war  or  peace  is  being  solved.  The 
of  the  Indian  war,  with  ample  troops  to  pro- 


132  ELK  MOUNTAIN. 

tect  the  route  perfectly,  would  disgrace  a  corporal ;  and  the 
sooner  the  policy  is  changed  upon  the  Plains,  the  sooner 
will  wanton  murders  and  robberies  and  the  wasteful  ex- 
penditure of  millions  of  money  cease. 

From  Cooper's  Creek  to  the  North  Platte,  a  distance  of 
sixty  miles,  was  regarded  as  the  only  really  dangerous 
part  of  our  route ;  and  as  three  troopers  accompanied  us 
all  the  way,  changing  at  the  stations,  we  felt  tolerably 
comfortable.  We  found  an  infantry  guard  of  six  at  each 
station,  and  Rock  Creek,  Medicine  Bow,  and  Wagonhound 
stations  had  all  protected  their  stock  for  several  days, 
although  occasionally  attacked.  At  Elk  Mountain  (Old 
Fort  Halleck)  we  found  a  serious  condition  of  affairs.  The 
Indians  were  encamped  but  a  few  miles  over  the  bluff,  in 
strong  force ;  they  had  stolen  the  horses  the  evening  before, 
and  an  attack  to  destroy  the  station  was  hourly  expected. 
The  most  dreary  place  on  the  entire  route  was  Elk  Moun- 
tain. The  fort  has  been  abandoned,  and  its  buildings  are 
crumbling  to  ruins.  Close  by  is  Elk  Mountain,  covered 
with  snow.  On  the  opposite  side  are  wild,  irregular  cliffs, 
with  frequent  ravines,  and  ahead  is  a  narrow  canon  for 
miles,  with  a  dozen  chances  for  Indian  ambuscades  in 
every  mile.  Near  the  station  is  a  burial-ground,  where, 
for  a  number  of  years,  the  emigrant  or  the  settler  who 
yielded  up  his  life  to  the  savage  was  brought  for  a  rest- 
ing-place. I  noticed  some  thirty  graves ;  and  the  rude  in- 
scriptions told  how  merciless  is  the  hand  of  the  red  man 
in  his1  warfare  against  the  encroachment  of  the  whites. 

As  the  Indian  camp  was  ahead  on  our  route,  and  but  a 
short  distance  from  the  road  over  the  cliffs,  we  regarded  an 
attack  as  more  than  probable.  The  soldiers  assured  us 
that  we  could  not  expect  to  escape  it;  and  our  escort 
started  out  with  us  fully  satisfied  that  they  would  have  a 
brush  before  they  got  three  miles  away.  They  behaved 


A   HASTY  DRIVE.  133 

most  manfully.  Never  were  saddles  and  trappings  put  on 
with  greater  care,  arms  were  all  carefully  examined,  and, 
although  it  was  very  cold,  they  took  with  them  nothing 
that  could  embarrass  them  in  a  fight.  Our  driver  was  a 
regular  Western*" brick."  He  said  but  little,  but  always 
to  the  point,  whistled  merrily  while  he  looked  to  the 
charges  of  his  rifle  and  pistols,  and  took  an  extra  quid  of 
tobacco  as  he  mounted  his  box  with  the  dignity  of  an 
emperor.  In  the  quaintest  Western  vernacular,  he  told  us 
how  to  act  in  case  of  an  attack,  in  the  mean  time  whirling 
his  long  whip  mechanically  over  his  head;  and  at  the  end 
of  every  direction  on  any  particular  point  he  would  add, 
with  an  extra  jerk  of  his  whip,  "But  never  scar';  never 
scar' — they're  lightnin'  when  you  scar'!"  It  was  nearly 
sunset,  just  the  favorite  time  for  Indian  attacks,  as  we 
passed  through  the  canon,  and  everything  seemed  just 
then  and  there  to  conspire  to  make  an  attack  inevitable. 
Every  gun  was  put  in  position,  with  muzzle  projecting 
from  the  coach  so  as  to  be  visible,  and,  when  all  was  ready, 
the  driver's  long  lash  was  flung  out  as  only  a  Western 
driver  can  fling  it,  and  we  dashed  into  the  ravine  at  full 
gallop.  There  were  occasional  ruts  and  bogs,  but  the 
sharp  report  of  the  whip  told  both  team  and  passengers 
that  we  had  not  time  to  slacken  our  speed  for  such  trifles. 
Occasionally,  as  the  front  wheels  would  plunge  into  a 
di-pp  water-course,  the  middle  and  hind  passengers  would 
land  in  most  ungraceful  attitudes  on  the  laps  of  the  front 
ones,  and  as  the  hind  wheels  would  drop  in,  the  whole 
load  would  sweep  back  in  a  pile  on  the  back  seat;  but 
soon  all  would  be  right  again,  and  on  we  whirled,  until 
darkness  and  ail  open  country  gave  reasonable  assurance 
of  safely. 

W<-  reached  the  North  Platte  about  three  in  the  morn 
ing,  in  the  midst  of  a  drenching  rain ;  but,  as  we  supposed 


134  A    COUNCIL   OF   WAR. 

it  to  be  the  end  of  our  Indian  troubles,  we  welcomed  any- 
thing and  every  sort  of  weather  that  put  us  there.  Judge 
of  our  surprise  when  told  that  the  Indians  had  just  broken 
out  on  the  road  for  fifty  miles  west,  that  there  was  not  an 
occupied  station  on  the  line,  that  a  number  of  station-men 
and  emigrants  had  been  killed  within  a  few  days,  and  that 
all  travel  was  suspended !  How  long  we  should  have  to 
stay,  no  one  pretended  to  say.  "  The  line  cannot  be  run 
any  longer  without  troops,"  was  the  reply  of  the  agent; 
and,  as  there  were  no  troops  within  four  hundred  miles,  the 
prospect  was  by  no  means  flattering.  We  had  by  this 
time,  however,  learned  not  to  borrow  trouble  on  any  ac- 
count ;  and  we  concluded  to  turn  in  for  a  sleep  and  talk 
about  traveling  in  the  morning.  Here,  as  usual,  there  was 
but  a  single  bed  in  the  ranch,  and  that  was  a  pile  of  straw 
on  two  poles  fastened  into  the  wall.  Mrs.  M.  was  favored 
with  a  place  on  the  soft  side  of  the  floor  near  the  cooking- 
stove,  and  the  rest  of  us  took  the  dining-room,  where,  by 
lying  on,  under,  and  all  around  the  table,  we  managed  to 
find  room  for  a  snooze.  Our  beds  consisted  of  our  robes 
and  blankets,  with  our  carpet-bags  for  pillows ;  but  never 
did  anybody  sleep  more  soundly.  The  stage  that  had  pre- 
ceded us  from  Denver  was  stopped  at  the  Platte  also :  so 
that  there  were  eleven  passengers  there. 

After  a  hearty  breakfast  on  elk-steak,  we  held  a  council 
of  war  and  transportation,  and  found  that  all  were  well 
armed  but  two  itinerant  speculators  of  the  Hebrew  faith. 
AVe  resolved  unanimously  that  they  must  arm  themselves, 
if  arms  were  to  be  had,  and  a  committee  soon  after  re- 
ported that  arms  could  be  had  at  a  ranch  a  mile  distant. 
They  sullenly  obeyed,  at  last,  by  purchasing  two  old  mus- 
kets at  fifteen  dollars  each  (worth  about  two  dollars  and  a 
half),  and  twenty  rounds  of  ammunition.  There  were  two 
broken-down  teams  at  the  station,  and  the  agent  of  the 


A  T  PINE  GR  0  VE.  135 

division  (Mr.  Stewart,  of  Indiana,  Pennsylvania)  proposed 
to  go  through  the  Indian  break  with  two  mud-wagons,  if 
the  passengers  would  go  along  and  stand  together  in  case 
of  an  attack.  All  promptly  assented.  Mr.  Stewart  for 
some  time  refused  to  allow  Mrs.  M.  to  go  ;  but  she  insisted 
that  the  party  must  not  be  stopped  on  her  account,  and 
declared  herself  perfectly  willing  to  share  the  fortune  of 
the  rest.  Finally,  we  made  up  seats  in  the  wagons  out  of 
mail-bags  and  trunks,  and  started  on  a  journey  of  fifty 
miles  through  a  region  where  the  Indians  had  driven 
every  man  and  horse  away.  It  was  a  pleasant  morning, 
and  we  had  the  promise  of  a  delightful  day  to  cross  the 
summit  of  Bridger's  Pass  on  the  Rocky  Range;  but  how 
deceptive  were  all  such  indications  the  sequel  will  show. 
The  first  station  (Sage  Creek)  we  reached  was  not  dis- 
turbed ;  but  when  we  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  near  the 
second  station  (Pine  Grove),  it  was  in  ruins,  and  the  re- 
mains still  burning.  The  thicket  close  to  it  was  an  ad- 
mirable retreat  for  Indians,  and  we  stopped  and  surrounded 
it  with  a  skirmish-line,  but  found  no  foe  there.  We  then 
drove  by  to  a  hill  beyond,  where  we  stopped  to  lunch  and 
feed  the  jaded  horses.  The  Indians  had  captured  the  stock 
the  day  before,  and  the  station-men  had  escaped  at  night. 
A  large  brindled  dog  first  told  of  the  presence  of  the  sav- 
ages, after  the  stock  had  been  stolen,  by  coming  in  with 
three  arrows  sticking  in  his  body;  and  when  they  de- 
stroyed the  station  they  vented  their  spite  on  the  dog  by 
running  a  pitchfork  through  him,  and  pinioning  him  where 
his  head  was  burnt  entirely  off.  The  literature  of  the 
station  was  scattered  around  the  ruins.  Our  driver  picked 
up  a  book  that  the  Indians  had  flung  out  on  the  road,  and, 
aft  IT  turning  it  over  several  times  to  be  sure  that  he  had 
it  rkrht  side  up,  he  said  it  was  called  "  Triumphs."  After 
another  prodigious  effort  at  spelling,  he  said  it  was  by 


136  OUR   SITUATION  MOST  CRITICAL. 

Curtis.     It  turned  out  to  be  a  copy  of  Curtis's  "  Trumps," 
and  was  given  Mrs.  M.  as  a  relic  of  Pine  Creek  Station. 

Before  we  left  Pine  Creek,  a  heavy  rain  set  in,  and  we 
lunched  under  our  wagons  on  our  robes.  It  was  a  dreary 
day  for  all.  We  had  twenty-five  miles  to  go  to  reach  Sul- 
phur Spring  Station,  our  teams  were  exhausted,  and  there 
was  neither  shelter  nor  food  on  the  route,  while  every  hour 
we  were  exposed  to  attacks  from  the  savages.  We  got 
down  on  the  bottom  of  the  wagon-beds,  and  covered  our- 
selves, all  but  our  heads,  with  our  blankets.  The  storm  was 
extremely  cold,  and  before  we  had  gone  two  miles  it  turned 
into  snow,  accompanied  by  a  pitiless  northwestern  gale. 
The  snow  blew  into  our  faces  and  froze  stiff  on  our 
whiskers  and  clothes.  If  we  could  have  covered  ourselves 
entirely,  we  might  have  been  comparatively  comfortable ; 
but  every  man  had  to  keep  his  rifle  dry  and  in  constant 
readiness,  and  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  Indians.  As  we 
ascended  the  summit  of  the  pass,  we  saw  abundant  evi- 
dences of  the  presence  of  the  savages.  At  one  place  two 
wagons  were  standing,  and  their  contents  scattered  on  the 
bluffs  on  either  side.  They  had  evidently  been  captured 
the  day  before,  the  horses  taken  and  the  goods  destroyed. 
When  we  reached  the  summit,  we  saw  the  Bridger's  Pass 
Station  in  flames.  It  has  an  open  country  for  a  mile  around 
it :  so  we  could  see  that  the  savages  had  gone ;  and  we 
drove  down  to  it  without  delay.  It  had  evidently  been 
fired  but  a  few  hours  before,  as  it  was  still  burning  and  the 
tracks  of  the  Indians  in  the  snow  were  fresh.  We  got  out 
and  warmed  ourselves  by  the  fire,  while  the  fierce  snow- 
storm raged  with  fury  around  us.  Our  situation  was  now 
manifestly  most  critical.  The  tracks  of  the  ponies  showed 
that  the  Indians  had  gone  toward  Sulphur  Spring,  the 
place  we  were  striving  to  reach,  and  it  seemed  more  than 
probable  that  they  would  destroy  that  place  before  we 


"BIG  DICK:'  137 

could  reach  it.  If  so,  we  would  be  left  on  the  top  of  the 
Rocky  Range,  without  food  or  shelter,  in  a  terrible  snow- 
storm, with  teams  unable  to  travel,  and  surrounded  by  the 
fiends  of  the  Plains.  It  was  a  sad  prospect;  but  every  one 
seemed  animated  with  the  resolve  to  yield  only  when  it 
was  no  longer  possible  to  save  ourselves.  We  determined 
to  proceed  after  the  Indians,  if  possible  reach  Sulphur 
Spring,  fifteen  miles  distant,  and  there  stop  whether  the 
station  was  destroyed  or  not.  "Big  Dick"  was  our  mas- 
ter-driver— that  is,  the  two  teams  were  under  his  direction  ; 
and  he  was  fully  equal  to  the  task.  He  stood  six  feet  three 
in  his  stockings,  had  a  giant  frame,  had  been  educated  on 
the  driver's  boot,  in  the  stable,  and  among  the  Indians, 
and  he  was  perfectly  familiar  with  their  habits.  He  seemed 
insensible  to  fear,  and  insisted  that  our  party  could  make 
Sulphur  in  spite  of  all  the  red  devils  this  side  of  the  hottest 
place  he  could  name.  He  also  seemed  almost  insensible 
to  the  terrible  storm  that  was  raging,  and  faced  its  cruel 
blasts  as  he  would  the  gentle,  balmy  breeze  of  spring. 
After  warming  ourselves  thoroughly  around  the  burning 
station,  we  got  in  again  to  start  on  our  journey.  It  was 
then  nearly  night,  our  teams  were  entirely  worn  out,  and 
on  any  sort  of  a  hill  we  had  to  stop  every  five  minutes  to 
let  them  rest.  About  five  miles  from  the  station,  Dick 
pulled  up,  and  said,  "  Fresh  pony-tracks,  gentlemen — lots 
of  'em — they're  not  half  a  mile  ahead  of  us."  The  snow 
and  the  moon  made  it  tolerably  light,  and  the  tracks  were 
plainly  visible  as  just  fresh,  when  closely  examined.  At 
the  word,  a  dozen  men  jumped  out  from  under  the  blankets 
and  robes,  with  guns  in  hands,  and  a  brief  council  was 
held  as  to  how  Mrs.  M.  could  be  best  protected.  "  Kiver 
her  up  in  the  bottom  of  the  wagon,  pile  the  baggage  around 
IMT,  and  leave  her  to  me,"  was  Dick's  order;  and  it  was 
obeyed.  In  less  than  a  minute  she  was  snugly  covered 

13 


138  THE  "CUSSES"    OVERTAKEN. 

over  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  no  sign  of  anything  in 
the  wagon  but  mails  and  baggage.     She  had  a  brace  of 
well-charged  revolvers  in  her  hands,  and  her  purpose  was 
firmly  fixed  to  take  her  own  life,  in  case  of  the  capture  of 
the  teams,  rather  than  suffer  the  unspeakable  horrors  of 
Indian  captivity.     To  most  of  the  party  she  was  an  entire 
stranger ;  but  all  seemed  to  forget  their  own  peril  in  their 
anxiety  for  her  safety.   Dick's  profoundest  admiration  was 
won  because,  as  he  said,  "  she  didn't  take  on  and  screech, 
as  most  of  'em  would."      Our  party  scattered  out,  some 
considerably  in  advance  of  the  teams  to  follow  the  trail  in 
the  snow,  while  the  others  were  in  a  circle  around  the 
teams,  which  were  kept  close  together.      The  road  was 
through  a  narrow  canon  (can'-yun,  the  term  applied  to 
narrow  ravines  between  spurs  of  the  mountains),  and  the 
broken  bluffs  and  frequent  sharp  turns,  together  with  the 
snow,  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  see  any  considerable 
distance   ahead.      We  followed   the   tracks    for    about   a 
mile,  when  they  turned   off  to   the  left  toward   a  canon 
running  at  right  angles  with  the  road.      The  bluffs  ter- 
minated abruptly  where  the  Indians  had  left  the  road,  and 
soon   a  bright   light    was    visible   in   a   deserted   ranch 
"There's  the  cusses!"   exclaimed  Dick, — and  there  they 
were;  but,  instead  of  surprising  and  attacking  us,  as  we 
apprehended,  they  were  the  surprised  party  and  apprehen- 
sive of  an  attack.  The  moment  the  wagons  came  out  of  the 
canon  in  hearing  of  the  Indians,  their  light  went  out.     We 
were  not  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  them  ;  but 
a  swollen  stream  divided  us,  so  that  they  could  not  make 
a  dash  upon  us.     We  knew  that  their  numbers  were  not 
greater  than  ours,  from  the  tracks  of  their  ponies,  and  we 
felt  safe  from   attack  where  it  had  to  be   done  on  open 
ground.    Their  ponies  were  plainly  visible  picketed  around 
the  ranch,  and  we  could  have  killed  or  crippled  half  of 


ARRIVAL  AT  SULPHUR   SPRING.  139 

them  by  a  single  fire ;  but  Dick  would  not  allow  the  ex- 
periment to  be  made.  "We've  not  lost  any,"  said  he, 
"and  we  are  not  hunting  'eni."  In  obedience  to  his  orders, 
we  moved  on,  all  of  the  men  walking  through  snow  and 
sometimes  in  mud  six  inches  deep.  We  had  still  four  miles 
to  the  station,  but  our  teams  could  scarcely  draw  the 
wagons,  and  we  had  to  wade  along  the  best  way  we  could. 
When  within  a  mile  of  Sulphur,  one  of  our  horses  dropped 
down,  and  had  to  be  unhitched  and  abandoned.  As  we 
supposed  that  we  were  beyond  the  Indians,  one  wagon, 
with  most  of  the  men,  went  on  to  the  station,  leaving  the 
other  with  the  driver  and  several  of  the  party  to  remain 
with  it  until  we  could  send  back  a  fresh  team.  When  we 
reached  the  station,  we  found  the  men  on  guard,  expecting 
an  attack,  and  learned  that  the  Indians  had  made  two  at- 
tacks in  the  afternoon  and  captured  some  sixteen  horses 
and  mules.  This  startling  information  developed  the  fact 
that  the  Indians  were  in  front  of  us  as  well  as  behind  us, 
and  that  they  could  unite  their  bands  in  an  hour  and 
greatly  outnumber  us.  No  lights  were  allowed  about  the 
stable,  and  all  possible  haste  was  made  to  send  a  well- 
armed  party  with  fresh  horses  to  get  in  the  party  left  be- 
hind. When  they  reached  the  wagon,  the  deserted  ranch, 
where  we  had  left  our  band  of  Indians,  was  in  flames, 
showing  that  they  had  fired  and  deserted  it  as  soon  as  we 
got  out  of  range  of  attack;  and  the  station-men  concluded 
that  their  united  force  would  attempt  to  destroy  the  station 
at  daylight  the  next  morning. 

We  found  things  about  the  station  by  no  means  calcu- 
lated to  quiet  our  apprehensions.  The  station-  and  ranch- 
men had  gathered  in  there  for  safety,  and  there  were  over 
thirty  armed  men  when  we  joined  them.  One  of  them, 
the  division  agent,  had  his  arm  in  a  sling.  He  had  come 
through  with  the  last  stage  a  day  before  us,  and  was  at- 


140      CATT.  WILSON'S  APOLOGY  TO  GEN.  SHERMAN. 

tacked  near  Bridger's  Pass.  He  was  first  wounded  in  the 
arm ;  next,  the  driver,  who  sat  beside  him  on  the  boot,  was 
killed  instantly;  next,  a  ranchman,  who  was  along,  was 
killed,  and  his  body  put  in  the  coach ;  and  another  ranch- 
man was  killed,  and  his  body  captured  by  the  savages. 
The  agent  drove  the  stage  in,  some  fifteen  miles,  through 
an  Indian  attack  of  two  hours,  and  landed  at  Sulphur, 
driving  with  one  arm,  a  dead  comrade  lying  under  his 
feet,  and  another  in  the  coach.  Two  emigrant-wagons 
were  with  him,  making  a  party  of  eight  to  resist  the  at- 
tacks ;  and  they  brought  their  teams  safely  through.  The 
same  evening  they  attacked  Bridger's  Pass  Station,  in 
which  there  were  but  two  men — Captain  Wilson,  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  another  man — and  they  repulsed  the  assail- 
ants, killing  one  and  wounding  two  others.  Four  Indians 
had  also  been  killed  by  the  party  with  the  coach ;  but  they 
always  carry  the  bodies  of  their  dead  from  the  field.  An 
Indian  will  brave  the  greatest  danger  to  get  off  a  dead  or 
wounded  comrade.  Captain  Wilson,  however,  brought  in 
the  pony,  blanket  (a  new  government,  evidently  recently 
issued),  robe,  and  battle-flag.  The  battle-flag  was  a  light 
pole,  about  eight  feet  long,  with  a  fork  at  the  end.  Each 
prong  of  the  stick  was  decorated  with  a  feather  at  the 
extreme  tip,  and  near  the  base  of  the  prong  two  long 
streamers,  made  of  beaver-skin,  were  attached.  Captain 
Wilson  begged  me  to  apologize  to  General  Sherman  for 
killing  the  Indian,  as  he  understood  it  to  be  against  the 
regulations ;  but,  he  said,  as  the  Indian  insisted  upon  his 
scalp,  he  had  to  kill  the  Indian  even  at  the  risk  of  incurring 
the  displeasure  of  the  lieutenant-general  and  becoming 
liable  to  the  grave  charge  of  provoking  an  Indian  war. 

A  strong  guard  was  put  out  around  the  station,  and 
kept  up  all  night,  with  reliefs  every  three  hours,  and  the 
rest  of  us  tried  to  find  some  sort  of  a  bed.  We  were  all 


THE  ALARM.  141 

drenched  to  the  skin,  and  so  bespattered  with  mud  that 
we  could  scarcely  recognize  each  other.  No  one  pretended 
even  to  draw  off  his  boots,  but  in  our  wet  clothes  we  rolled 
ourselves  up  in  wet  blankets  and  piled  into  every  corner 
of  the  shanty,  with  our  rifles  and  ammunition  close  at 
hand.  Mrs.  M.  had  a  part  of  the  only  bed  in  the  house — 
one  belonging  to  an  emigrant- wagon,  which  the  good  lady 
kindly  invited  her  to  share.  It  was  a  thin  straw  mattress, 
and  blankets  and  a  borrowed  robe  served  the  purpose  of 
sheets,  pillows,  and  cover.  All  slept  soundly :  indeed,  I 
never  slept  better ;  and,  but  for  an  alarm  about  four  o'clock, 
I  would  have  nearly  got  square  with  sleep  for  the  loss  of 
several  previous  nights.  About  daybreak,  a  wild  Indian 
yell  rang  out  from  the  cliffs,  not  far  from  the  station.  The 
guard  accepted  it  as  the  signal  for  an  attack,  and  hastily 
aroused  the  slumbering  warriors.  There  were  no  toilets  to 
make.  In  a  twinkling,  each  man  had  kicked  off  his  blanket, 
grasped  his  gun,  and  was  ready  for  action.  The  port-holes 
were  opened,  parties  stationed  at  the  proper  places,  and  all 
was  in  readiness  in  an  incredibly  short  time.  We  were 
all  ripe  for  a  brush.  We  had  been  chased,  fretted,  and 
bedeviled  by  the  Indians  for  several  days;  some  had  lost 
their  property,  others  their  ranches,  and  still  others  their 
friends  ;  and  there  was  a  universal  desire  to  have  the  thing 
settled  by  a  square  fight.  WTe  had  the  advantage,  and  felt 
strong  enough  to  repel  five  times  our  number ;  and  that  fact, 
doubtless,  had  much  to  do  with  our  general  desire  for  a 
fight.  But  the  alarm  proved  groundless.  The  Indians  did 
not  come;  and  in  the  course  of  an  hour  we  ventured  out 
and  restationed  our  guards;  but  no  man  left  the  door  with- 
out his  rifle-in  hand.  Immediately  in  the  rear  of  the  station- 
house  was  a  high  cliff,  the  top  of  which  was  within  short 
rifle-range,  so  that  the  Indians  could  approach  close  enough 
to  fire  upon  us  before  they  could  be  seen.  A  fine  sulphur 
"  13* 


142  WESTWARD  AGAIN. 

spring  rises  within  five  yards  of  the  building,  near  the  foot 
of  the  bluffs.  I  started  to  get  a  drink,  but  was  promptly 
stopped  until  some  one  could  cover  my  movement  writh  a 
rifle,  by  standing  in  the  door.  Usually,  when  water  was 
wanted,  a  boy  was  sent,  and  a  man  stood  in  the  door  with 
his  cocked  rifle  leveled  toward  the  cliff.  As  an  Indian 
could  not  fire  without  uncovering  himself  to  some  extent, 
they  did  not  interfere  with  our  bringing  in  water  when  a 
rifle  guarded  the  carrier. 

The  morning  was  cold  and  cheerless,  and  altogether 
everything  seemed  most  un propitious.  The  snow  still  fell 
in  fitful  gusts,  the  roads  were  almost  impassable,  but  little 
stage-stock  remained,  and  that  was  worn  out,  and,  to 
crown  all,  the  Indians  were  around  us,  and  in  such  num- 
bers that  the  party  could  not  divide  with  safety.  We  had 
a  hearty  breakfast  of  elk-steak,  bread,  and  coffee,  and  then 
began  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  get  forward.  We 
could  not  remain  there,  for  provisions  were  becoming 
scarce,  and  hunting  (upon  which  the  station  depended  en- 
tirely for  meat)  was  impossible :  so  we  resolved  to  move 
ahead,  if  at  all  possible.  The  agent  finally  concluded  to 
send  out  two  stage-loads  of  passengers  westward,  and  our 
same  party  that  had  braved  the  storm  and  Indians  the 
day  before,  unanimously  agreed  to  go.  By  noon  we  are 
to  start ;  and  of  our  experience  on  the  rest  of  the  route  the 
next  letter  will  tell — provided,  always,  that  the  Indians  do 
not  capture  the  writing-materials  and  the  writer. 


LETTER    XY. 

Departure  from  Sulphur  Spring. — The  Savages  witness  our  De- 
parture.—Military  Strategy  of  the  Old  Station-Man.— The  Pets 
of  the  Stations. — Cats,  Dogs,  and  Chickens. — Vengeance  of  the 
Indians  in  killing  the  Station  Pets. — Indians  attack  a  Train. — 
Bitter  Creek  reached. — The  Alkali  "Water  and  Dust. — Green 
Kiver. — Fresh  Water  again. — A  Dispute  for  the  Team. — The 
Driver  convinced  in  our  Favor. — A  Belligerent  Official. — The 
Church  Buttes. — A  Team  of  Bronchos. — Fort  Bridger. — Hospi- 
tality of  Judge  Carter. — The  Mormon  War. —Indians. — Con- 
tempt of  the  Males  for  Women. — The  Quaking  Asp  Summit. — 
A  Night  at  Bear  Kiver. — Echo  Canon. — Hank  Conner  and  his 
Gay  Team. — Among  the  Mormons  at  Weber. — Crossing  the 
•  Wasatch  Kange. — Five  Feet  of  Snow. — A  Harmless  Upset. — 
Arrival  at  Salt  Lake. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  12,  1867. 

WE  left  Sulphur  Spring  Station  on  Friday,  near  noon,  all 
glad  to  get  away  and  ready  to  brave  new  dangers  with  the 
red-skins  if  necessary.  We  started  out  with  two  coaches, 
containing  the  same  party  we  had  from  North  Platte  to 
Sulphur  Spring,  and  all,  of  course,  well  armed.  When  we 
reached  the  top  of  a  bluff  a  mile  west  of  the  station,  we 
saw  the  Indians  on  the  bluff  behind  the  station,  making  an 
accurate  observation  of  our  numbers  and  movements.  They 
were  all  mounted,  and  seemed  ready  for  a  dash ;  but  we  felt 
satisfied  that  they  would  not  try  their  hands  on  us  in  day- 
light, in  a  comparatively  open  country.  There  were  occa- 
sional bluffs  and  ravines  for  some  miles  west  of  Sulphur, 
but  the  country  gradually  opens  out  until  it  becomes  a 
wide  plain,  for  fiftocn  miles.  With  :i  little  precaution,  jind 

(143) 


144  THE  STATIONS. 

going  in  advance  of  the  coaches  here  and  there  to  guard 
against  surprise,  we  felt  tolerably  safe.  At  the  first  sta- 
tion (Waskie)  we  found  that  no  Indians  had  appeared 
there  as  yet.  The  old  station-keeper  had  the  hind  carriage 
of  a  stage-wagon  mounted  with  a  section  of  large  stove- 
pipe, a  caisson  improvised  out  of  a  wheelbarrow,  and  the 
letters  "U.S."  painted  on  them  in  the  largest  possible 
style.  While  the  team  was  grazing,  we  had  a  pleasant 
chat  with  the  old  fellow,  and  heard  him  tell  some  thrill- 
ing stories  of  the  early  trials  on  the  plains  and  in  the 
mountains. 

The  stations  were  ever  places  of  interest  to  me.  They 
are  isolated,  generally  located  in  a  hollow  beside  a  stream, 
and  the  occupants  have  no  companions  except  their  horses 
and  such  other  animals  as  they  gather  about  them.  The 
"swing-stations,"  where  the  teams  are  changed,  and  no 
meals  furnished  passengers,  consist  of  a  rude  stable,  built  of 
logs  or  mud  and  invariably  covered  with  earth.  In  a  little 
corner  is  a  small  room  partitioned  off,  in  which  the  station- 
men  cook,  eat,  sleep,  tell  stories,  read  yellow-covered  liter- 
ature, and  caress  their  pets.  In  every  instance  I  was 
first  greeted  by  one  or  more  cats.  They  are  the  insepar- 
able companions  of  the  stable-men,  and  usually  answer  to 
the  tenderest  names.  They  always  come  stepping  out  as 
soon  as  the  stage  stops,  and  approach  the  passengers, 
giving  the  most  cordial  welcome,  and  rubbing  themselves 
against  them  to  get  a  kind  stroking  in  return.  Sometimes 
one  large  Tom  has  the  monopoly  of  the  establishment, 
but  generally  Tabby  follows  with  her  litter,  and  directs 
attention,  with  maternal  pride,  to  her  jewels.  The  little 
ones  will  spring  into  your  lap,  climb  on  your  shoulders, 
and  purr  in  your  very  ears  to  win  a  little  notice.  The 
Newfoundland  or  St.  Bernard  dog  is  also  the  invariable 
companion  of  the  stable-man,  and  they,  too,  greet  the  pas- 


CATS,  DOGS,  AND    CHICKENS.  145 

sengers  with  every  evidence  of  hospitality.  Frequently 
the  Creole  chickens  are  part  of  the  family,  and  they  are 
as  tame  as  the  rest  of  the  pets.  The  rooster  steps  out  in 
front  of  the  stable  when  the  passengers  get  out,  and  gives 
them  a  touching  reminder  of  home  as  he  rises  in  his  con- 
scious dignity  and  makes  the  bluffs  ring  with  his  shrill, 
defiant  crow.  With  him  come  the  biddies,  sometimes  with 
their  broods,  meekly  presenting  their  claims  to*  a  kind  word 
or  a  crumb  from  the  passers-by.  The  men,  animals,  and 
birds  constitute  one  family.  When  meals  are  ready,  puss, 
Jowler,  and  the  chickens  all  are  present,  and  are  trained  to 
earn  a  liberal  share  by  practicing  cunning  tricks  which 
they  have  been  taught.  At  the  "home-stations,"  where 
meals  are  furnished  to  passengers,  there  is  always  a  log  or 
mud  shanty  in  addition  to  the  stable,  and  usually  the  land- 
lord has  a  family.  I  did  not  find  one  of  the  home-stations 
without  a  landlady.  Frequently  there  were  other  house- 
hold pets,  such  as  obtain  in  most  well-regulated  families ; 
but  babies  did  not  appear  in  the  assortment.  I  cannot  re- 
call a  station,  in  the  trip  of  six  hundred  miles  from  Denver 
here,  where  the  cats  and  dogs  did  not  come  out  in  the  most 
friendly  manner  to  welcome  us,  and  always  persisted  in 
pressing  their  acquaintance  until  they  were  recognized 
kindly.  At  Sulphur  Spring  the  station-keeper  of  Bridger's 
Pass  was  one  of  our  party,  and  his  keenest  grief  was  be- 
cause of  the  brutal  murder  of  his  favorite  cat.  Had  she  been 
burned  or  shot,  he  would  not  have  complained ;  but  I  gave 
him  the  p^ofoundest  sorrow  by  telling  him  that  the  Indians 
had  skinned  his  cat,  cut  the  head  off,  and  set  the  carcass  out 
in  the  road  on  a  tin  plate.  The  Indians  well  knew  that  next 
to  scalping  the  station-keeper  himself,  they  could  not  have 
inflicted  upon  him  a  deeper  wound.  "  They've  skinned  her 
alive,  the  devils  of  hell,"  was  his  exclamation,  and,  Avith 
gritting  teeth,  he  vowed  vengeance.  For  horses,  ranch, 


146  BITTER    CREEK  REACHED. 

clothing,  traps,  etc.  he  cared  not ;  but  that  the  Indians  should 
wreak  their  atrocities  upon  the  pet  of  his  little  family,  was 
more  than  his  nature  could  endure  with  equanimity. 

When  we  got  out  some  twenty  miles  west  of  Sulphur, 
we  had  a  beautiful  open  prairie,  and  the.  sun  was  strug- 
gling with  the  clouds  to  give  us  a  pleasant  day.  At  times 
he  would  seem  to  triumph,  and  the  green  grass,  and  the 
ponds  just  filled  by  the  storm,  seemed  to  give  us  a  grate- 
ful welcome ;  but  again  the  heavens  would  blacken,  and 
the  spiteful  snow  make  us  close  up  our  coach  and  gather 
about  us  our  blankets  and  robes.  We  met  a  large  mixed 
train  of  mules  and  oxen  just  as  we  had  gained  the  wide 
prairie,  and  gave  the  master  the  details  of  our  trials.  He 
informed  us  that  there  was  another  train  some  miles  behind 
him,  and  that  he  would  wait  for  it  to  go  through  with  him. 
He  had  sixty  armed  men,  and  felt  pretty  safe — so  safe,  in- 
deed, that  at  the  next  home-station  the  telegraph  informed 
us  that  the  Indians  had,  that  very  day,  captured  all  his 
mules  and  killed  one  of  his  men. 

About  eleven  o'clock  at  night  we  reached  Laclede,  and 
stopped  for  supper,  rather  to  have  a  little  rest  and  get 
warmed  up,  than  to  satisfy  hunger.  There  we  found  our- 
selves fairly  in  the  celebrated  Bitter  Creek  region  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  For  a  distance  of  about  one  hundred 
miles,  there  is  no  water  fit  to  drink.  Bitter  Creek,  which 
drains  the  country,  is  so  impregnated  with  alkali  that 
neither  man  nor  beast  can  drink  it  without  injury ;  and  the 
wells  at  the  stations  are  almost  equally  bad.  The  water, 
if  drunk  in  the  usual  quantities,  produces  violent  nausea, 
and  does  not  satisfy  thirst.  Even  in  coffee  and  tea  it  is 
tasted,  and  the  "  square  meals"  seem  throughout  as  if 
alkali  had  been  spilled  profusely  on  everything.  Fortu- 
nately for  us,  we  entered  it  about  dark,  and  the  recent 
storm  prevented  dust,  and  the  continued  cold  weather  did 


GREEN-  RIVER.  147 

not  provoke  thirst.  When  the  weather  is  warm  and  the 
roads  are  dry,  the  dust  of  this  section  is  almost  intolerable. 
We  had  but  a  small  installment  of  it  the  last  few  hours  we 
were  on  it,  and  it  parched  the  lips  and  irritated  the  nose 
with  a  keenness  almost  equal  to  that  of  quicklime.  It  is  the 
most  desolate  section  between  the  Atlantic  and  Salt  Lake. 
Even  the  sage-brush  and  grease-wood,  the  only  growth  it 
can  boast,  are  stunted,  and  seem  to  eke  out  a  miserable 
existence.  There  is  no  grass  to  protect  the  traveler  or 
trains  from  the  widest  sweep  of  its  almost  impalpable 
sands,  and  when  the  season  is  dry  it  envelops  everything 
in  its  burning  clouds.  It  is  a  portion  of  the  desolate  route 
that  every  tourist  hurries  over  with  the  utmost  speed,  and 
usually  the  most  delightful  view  of  the  trip  is  the  fresh 
water  of  Green  River.  It  is  hailed  as  an  oasis  in  the 
desert,  as  it  furnishes  clear,  sweet  water  and  invites  the 
traveler  to  continued  fresh  waters  beyond.  ^v, 

We  ferried  Green  River  just  before  dark,  and  supped  at 
the  station  on  potatoes,  dry  bread,  and  coffee.  The  gen- 
eral derangement  of  the  stage-stock  by  the  Indians  left 
us  without  horses  to  proceed  farther  with  our  two  coaches, 
and  it  became  a  nice  question  who  should  get  the  prefer- 
ence. There  being  no  agent  there,  the  driver  was  the 
supreme  power  in  the  case.  The  rule  of  the  line  is  to  send 
on  the  first  coach  that  comes.  As  we  came  together,  each 
claimed  precedence — we  because  our  party  had  the  oldest 
tickets,  and  the  others  because  they  started  from  Denver 
a  day  before  us.  Just  here  our  old  freighter  (Mr.  Perry) 
came  in  excellent  play.  The  driver  was  obstinately  non- 
committal, and  a  brief  council  decided  that  even  rights 
were  marketable  in  the  Far  West.  The  driver  was  called 
behind  the  baggage-boot  on  pretense  of  locking  up  a  valise. 
There  \\cre  a  few  words  said,  a  very  slight  rustling  of  fine 
paper  in  his  vest-pocket,  and  he  promptly  decided  that  we 


148  THE   CHURCH  BUTTES. 

were  entitled  to  the  first  team.  One  of  A.  J.'s  appointees 
was  in  the  other  party,  and  he  demonstrated  the  fitness  of 
his  appointment  by  such  an  Executive,  by  swinging  his 
pistol  and  demanding  to  be  forwarded  at  once  because  he 
was  a  government  official.  While  he  was  swearing,  the 
driver  coolly  handed  him  his  baggage  and  told  him  that 
he  should  have  the  first  passage  "  after  the  gentlemen  and 
lady  had  gone."  He  rushed  to  the  telegraph  and  sent  a 
message  to  the  stage-officer  at  Denver,  at  a  cost  of  $1.20, 
while  $10  had  settled  the  whole  question  against  him  but 
a  few  minutes  before.  As  nobody  paid  any  attention  to 
him,  he  finally  subsided,  and  in  a  short  time  was  asleep 
with  the  rest  of  us  in  the  little  room  around  the  stove. 
Mrs.  M.  had  been  favored  with  a  corner  in  the  kitchen, 
where  there  was  a  good  fire,  and  the  rest  of  us  had  a  com- 
fortable bed  on  our  blankets  and  robes  in  the  dining-room. 
We  had  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  a  western  coach  before 
we  could  proceed,  and  we  were  allowed  to  sleep  until 
one  in  the  morning  before  we  were  called  to  pursue  our 
journey. 

From  Green  River  to  Fort  Bridger,  a  distance  of  about 
sixty  miles,  there  are  the  finest  springs,  and  a  continuous, 
broad,  green  valley.  The  day  was  beautiful — the  first 
pleasant  weather  we  had  been  favored  with  since  entering 
the  mountains.  The  Church  Buttes  are  the  special  object 
of  interest  to  the  traveler  in  this  valley.  They  consist  of 
immense  rocks  situated  on  abrupt  cliffs,  presenting  the  ap- 
pearance of  vast  churches  with  altars,  pulpits,  and  domes. 
Some  of  them  tower  up  three  hundred  feet  above  the  top 
of  the  bluffs,  with  almost  perpendicular  walls,  and  present 
every  variety  of  architecture.  The  roads  being  fine  in  this 
region,  we  had  some  original  teams.  At  Millersville, 
twelve  miles  from  Bridger,  they  hitch  up  six  raw  bronchos 
(wild  California  horses).  It  required  a  man  to  each  horse 


HOSPITALITY   OF  JUDGE  CARTER.  149 

to  get  them  into  the  harness,  and  then  each  one  had  to  be 
held  until  all  was  ready.  They  reared,  plunged,  kicked, 
pulled  back,  lay  down,  and  played  all  manner  of  fantastic 
antics ;  but  the  driver  finally  mounted  his  box  with  a  cool- 
ness that  showed  him  to  be  perfect  master  of  the  situation, 
and,  as  he  yelled  to  them  to  "git,"  his  keen  silken  cracker 
flashed  about  their  flanks  and  kept  flashing  until  all  started 
on  a  run.  They  don't  take  time  to  break  horses  on  the 
plains,  but  where  there  is  a  level  country  they  harness 
them  with  a  pitchfork  and  drive  them  under  the  whip  until 
they  are  glad  to  be  docile.  Bogs  and  washes  in  the  roads 
arc  of  no  consequence — they  dash  through  them  as  if  they 
did  not  exist,  and,  with  a  yell  and  a  sharp  crack  of  the 
whip,  they  rear  out  on  the  other  side.  The  strange  feature 
of  these  horses  is  that  they  are  never  broken  until  they 
are  worn  out.  They  seem  to  be  by  nature  intractable,  and 
as  long  as  they  are  able  for  the  road  they  yield  to  harness 
only  after  an  exhaustive  struggle. 

We  reached  Fort  Bridger  about  the  middle  of  the  after- 
noon (Sunday),  and  were  met  at  the  station  by  Judge 
Carter,  and  made  to  share  his  proverbial  hospitality.  I 
had  met  him  at  Denver  when  we  were  all  blockaded  there, 
and  was  glad  to  be  welcomed  to  the  abode  of  civilization 
after  a  full  week  of  unpleasant  adventure  among  Indians 
and  ranchmen.  He  has  a  comfortable  house,  an  estimable 
wife,  several  daughters  (most  of  them  East  at  school),  a 
fine  piano,  library,  and  everything  that  is  to  be  found  in 
Eastern  residences.  He  came  to  Bridger  with  General  A. 
Sidney  Jo*hnston,  in  185T,  as  a  sutler,  and  remained  after 
the  so-called  Mormon  war  was  ended.  He  is  a  Virginian 
by  birth,  a  tall,  spare,  flaxen-haired  gentleman,  with  white 
fl<>\ving  beard  and  moustache,  and  evidently  a  gentleman 
of  iniicli  mon-  than  ordinary  character  and  culture.  He 
has  expended  some  $40,000  in  building  on  the  military 

14 


150  THE  MORMON   WAR. 

reservation  lands,  and  has  an  immense  store.  He  deals 
largely  with  the  friendly  Indians,  and  emigrants,  and  sup- 
plies the  garrison  with  sutler's  stores.  As  is  usual  in  the 
exercise  of  Western  hospitality,  he  took  us  into  his  well- 
filled  cellar,  and,  as  I  declined  whisky,  brandy,  gin,  rum, 
etc.,  he  went  on  to  something  else,  until  he  turned  up  a 
bottle  of  what  he  called  favorite  bitters,  and  that,  he  said, 
I  must  drink.  Being  under  military  rule,  I,  of  course, 
complied.  Before  I  had  the  glass  empty,  he  had  a  bottle 
in  my  overcoat-pocket ;  and,  as  I  was  starting,  he  insisted 
that  I  didn't  balance  properly,  and  he  crammed  one  into 
the  pocket  on  the  other  side.  To  resist  would  have  seemed 
to  be  affectation,  and  I  submitted.  In  case  of  accident 
they  may,  as  Mrs.  Toodles  would  say,  be  handy  to  have 
about  the  house. 

Judge  Carter  and  Colonel  Miles,  the  post-commandant, 
favored  me  with  a  general  inspection  of  the  works  and 
buildings.  The  position  was  first  chosen  by  the  Mormons 
to  resist  Johnston's  advance,  and  their  cobble-stone  fortifi- 
cation still  stands,  and  serves  as  a  stable  for  the  garrison. 
It  is  most  beautifully  situated  in  what  seems  to  be  nearly 
the  centre  of  a  vast  plain.  A  number  of  rapid  mountain- 
streams  flow  through  and  around  the  works,  and  a  heart- 
some  growth  of  cottonwood  breaks  the  monotony  of  the 
prairie.  It  was  there  that  General  Johnston  was  overtaken 
by  winter,  and  compelled  to  go  into  winter  quarters ;  while 
the  Mormons  retreated  west  and  wintered  in  Echo  Canon. 
The  next  year  the  regular  fort-quarters  were  erected;  and 
it  is  now  an  admirable  military  post.  As  we  had  no 
change  of  horses,  we  were  glad  to  remain  with  Judge 
Carter  until  late  in  the  day.  There  were  swarms  of  In- 
dians around  the  buildings,  begging,  trading,  and  stealing. 
The  chief  of  the  Bannocks,  a  northern  tribe,  was  there  to 
confer  with  Judge  Carter  about  peace  and  supplies,  and 


QUAKING  ASP  SUMMIT.  151 

Wnskie's  tribe  always  stay  close  to  the  fort.  They  wander 
about  in  squads,  the  "bucks"  and  " squaws,"  as  they  are 
designated,  always  separate.  The  males  have  the  pro- 
foundest  contempt  for  the  squaws.  They  will  never  recog- 
nize or  speak  to  them  before  the  whites,  unless  to  order 
them  away.  One  bedizened  warrior,  glorying  in  beaded 
buckskin  pants,  and  silken  streamers  elaborately  embroid- 
ered flying  from  his  feet,  was  mounted  on  his  pony  before 
the  door.  Mrs.  M.  approached  to  examine  his  finery,  and 
he  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  with  intense  disgust,  when, 
yelling  out,  "  Pooh,  pooh — squaw !"  he  galloped  off.  Some 
of  the  Bannocks  came  in  front  without  any  trappings,  and 
their  squaws  came  meekly  after,  sitting  astride  of  their 
tent-covers,  with  their  papooses  tied  to  their  backs  and 
their  lodge-poles  trailing  behind  them.  When  they  arrive 
at  the  place  where  the  tent  is  to  be  pitched,  the  dusky  lord 
lies  down  on  the  grass,  while  his  bride  builds  their  shelter 
and  prepares  their  meal. 

We  left  Fort  Bridger  a  little  before  sunset,  but  could 
not  make  rapid  progress,  as  our  old  team  had  to  be  taken. 
Toward  midnight  we  crossed  the  Quaking  Asp  Summit. 
It  is  about  nine  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  is  the  greatest  altitude  attained  on  the  route  across 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  road  across  was  very  rough, 
and  when  we  reached  Bear  River,  about  midnight,  the 
driver  refused  to  go  farther  until  his  teams  were  rested. 
Accordingly,  we  turned  in  at  the  station,  and  made  up  our 
beds,  as  usual,  with  robes  and  blankets,  giving  Mrs.  M. 
the  kitchen  floor  and  the  benefit  of  the  stove.  It  will  doubt- 
1< •>>  seem  strange  that  the  stove  was  ever  in  demand  at 
the  stations;  but  for  five  hundred  miles  we  did  not  have 
a  single  day  or  night«that  a  stove  was  not  desirable.  After 
a  sound  sleep  and  a  hearty  breakfast,  we  started  out  with 
a  bright  morning,  and  soon  came  to  the  head  of  Echo  Canon 


152  AMONG   THE   MORMONS  AT   WEBER. 

— one  of  the  most  remarkable  ravines  in  the  mountains, 
where  the  echoes  can  be  heard  for  miles.  It  is  a  continuous 
narrow  passage  through  the  broken  mountains  for  twenty 
miles,  at  times  so  narrow  that  there  is  not  room  for  both 
the  little  creek  and  the  road ;  and  it  is  usually  driven  by 
one  of  the  famous  drivers  of  the  overland  journey.  Hank 
Conner,  a  fancy  and  decidedly  fast  hero  of  the  whip  and 
lines,  is  the  regular  driver ;  but  he  was  off  his  beat  by  the 
general  derangement.  We  had  one,  however,  who  was 
determined  to  sustain  Hank's  reputation.  Mrs.  M.  sat  out 
with  him  on  the  driver's  boot,  to  get  the  full  benefit  of  the 
wild  scenery,  and  he  could  not  miss  the  opportunity  to  dis- 
play his  art  to  the  best  advantage.  We  had  reached  a 
region  where  grain  and  hay  were  plenty,  and  we  had  ex- 
cellent horses.  One  of  our  teams  was  so  wild  that  it  took 
all  of  us  to  get  them  into  the  harness,  and  when  in,  "  Gin- 
ger" and  "  Lantern"  well-nigh  defied  the  power  of  the  lines ; 
but  the  road  was  good  most  of  the  way  and  all  down  hill, 
and  we  whirled  along  in  the  liveliest  manner  until  we 
emerged  at  Weber's  Station,  near  the  foot  of  the  Wasatch 
Range,  and  but  fifty  miles  from  Salt  Lake  City.  After  an 
excellent  Mormon  dinner,  we  started  off  again  through  the 
first  settlement  we  had  seen  since  we  left  the  streams  near 
Denver.  For  some  fifteen  miles  we  passed  through  a 
thick  settlement  of  Mormons  and  one  or  two  considerable 
villages.  They  have  good  fences,  and  seem  to  be  most 
thrifty  farmers.  About  every  house  there  was  shrubbery 
and  shade,  grown  by  irrigation,  and  all  had  gardens  in 
bloom.  At  the  eastern  foot  of  the  Wasatch  Range  we 
stopped  with  Wm.  Kimball,  son  of  Heber  Kimball,  second 
president  of  the  Mormon  Church.  He  keeps  a  hotel,  and 
has  the  first  regular  two-storied  house  1  had  seen  within 
five  hundred  miles.  He  had  three  wives  to  shower  bless- 
ings upon  his  domestic  hearth,  and  quite  an  assortment  of 


ARRIVAL   AT  SALT  LAKE.  153 

children.  The  favorite  wife  was  in  the  parlor,  with  two 
snirill  children,  and  entertained  us  while  the  others  pre- 
pared supper.  We  had  some  music  on  the  piano,  and 
spent  an  hour  most  pleasantly.  How  it  would  have  been 
had  the  three  wives  and  their  latest  editions  of  little  Kim- 
balls  all  been  with  us,  I  cannot  guess ;  but  I  doubt  whether 
there  would  not  have  been  some  clouds  mingled  with  the 
sunshine. 

About  ten  o'clock  we  started  to  climb  the  Wasatch.  We 
were  but  twenty-five  miles  from  this  place,  and  were  most 
impatient  to  get  through.  It  was  a  beautiful  night,  the 
moon  more  than  half  full,  and  the  road  passably  good. 
Near  the  summit  we  all  got  out  to  walk,  and  had  to  pass 
over  five  feet  of  beaten  snow  in  the  road  on  the  tenth  day 
of  June.  We  had  a  magnificent  team  of  six  grays,  and  ex- 
pected to  whirl  into  Salt  Lake  City  handsomely  as  soon  as 
we  crossed  the  summit.  After  we  had  got  fairly  over,  we 
got  in,  and  off  we  started ;  but  in  less  than  twenty  minutes 
the  stage  plunged  into  a  deep  rut  and  upset  instantly.  For- 
tunately, the  team  stopped,  and  we  directed  our  efforts  to 
get  the  passengers  out.  I  was  on  the  upper  side,  and  soon 
got  out  through  the  side  door,  and  as  each  passenger  was 
hurriedly  called  the  answer  came  that  no  serious  damage 
was  done.  They  presented  a  strange  mixture.  Rifles, 
traveling-bags,  satchels,  lunch-baskets,  bottles,  etc.  were  all 
in  admirable  confusion  among  the  passengers  ;  but  luckily 
no  material  harm  was  done  to  either  passengers  or  property. 
We  soon  righted  up  again,  and  had  a  delightful  moonlight 
drive  down  through  Parley  Canon  to  this  place,  where  we 
arrived  about  three  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning,  after  a 
most  tedious  and  eventful  journey  of  eight  days  from 
Denver. 

14* 


LETTER    XYL 

Hospitality  of  the  Mormons. — Despotism  of  the  Mormon  Leader?. 
— The  Theory  of  Mormon  Power. — Character  of  the  Mormon 
Emigrants. — Their  Greatly  Improved  Temporal  Condition. — 
The  Serfs  of  the  Old  World  become  Thrifty  Farmers  in  Utah. 
— Brigham  Young. — His  Abilities  as  an  Administrator  gener- 
ally underrated.  —  His  Appearance,  Culture,  and  Manners. — 
His  Wives. — The  Last  and  Favorite  an  Apple  of  Discord  in  the 
Prophet's  Home. — Polygamy  as  a  Source  of  Power. — Plural 
Wives.  —  The  Terrors  of  Polygamy  to  Mormon  Women. — 
Preaching  in  the  Tabernacle. — Brigham  Young's  Sermon. — His 
Blasphemy  and  Profanity. — His  Temporal  Power. — His  Finan- 
cial Management.  —  Distracting  Issues  in  the  Church. — The 
Causes  combining  to  the  Overthrow  of  Mormonism. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  18,  1867. 

I  HAVE  seen  Mormonism  in  its  best  garments  only.  Its 
dignitaries  have  made  me  welcome.  Its  hospitality  en- 
compassed me.  Its  fruits  and  flowers,  its  bright  spots 
and  pleasant  recreations,  were  all  before  me.  With  its 
humble  followers  and  its  shadowed  household  circles  I 
must  repeat  the  experience  of  all  other  gentile  visitors, 
and  go,  as  I  came,  a  stranger.  But  on  every  hand,  on  the 
streets,  in  the  homes  where  crime  wears  its  richest  gilding, 
in  the  tabernacle,  and  even  in  the  very  fountain  of  the  pol- 
luted stream,  are  plainly  visible  the  melancholy  evidence 
of  mingled  fraud  and  infatuation,  of  cunning  wrong-doors 
and  deluded  wrong-sufferers. 

The  world  elsewhere  may  be  sought  in  vain  for  a  des- 
potism so  relentless  and  pitiless  as  is  Monnonisni.  Kings 
(154) 


k 


DESPOTISM  OF  THE  MORMON  LEADERS.        155 

and  emperors  rule  millions  of  willing  or  unwilling  subjects, 
but  there  is  no  people  in  such  utter,  abject  servility  to  their 
monarch.  There  are  churches  wherein  infallibility  is  ac- 
corded to  the  head,  or  limited  power  of  an  absolute  char- 
acter conceded ;  but  in  none  could  any  spiritual  potentate 
rise  up,  as  did  Brigham  Young  on  Sunday  last,  before 
twenty-five  hundred  people,  and  prescribe  their  worldly 
actions,  their  ordinary  daily  dealings,  with  the  penalty  of 
eternal  damnation  proclaimed  for  disobedience.  At  first 
glance,  the  arrogant  exercise  of  power  by  the  Mormon 
leaders,  and  the  willing  submission  of  their  followers,  be- 
wilder the  observer ;  but  when  the  whole  theory  of  this 
stupendous  fraud  is  unraveled,  the  character  of  its  subjects 
studied,  the  thousand  channels  through  which  absolute 
power  reaches  out  and  ramifies  into  almost  every  house- 
hold, it  ceases  to  be  incomprehensible.  A  very  large  ma- 
jority of  the  Mormon  people  are  the  rescued  serfs  of  the 
Old  World — not  so  perhaps  in  name  in  most  cases,  but  so 
in  fact.  They  are  ignorant,  superstitious,  fanatical,  and 
ready  victims  for  a  new  doctrine  that  promises  to  bring 
them  into  immediate  communion  with  God.  When  once 
brought  to  the  home  of  the  Saints,  often  by  the  generous 
aid  of  the  Emigration  Society,  their  temporal  condition  is 
readily  bettered,  their  social  status  is  elevated  to  recogni- 
tion by  even  the  inspired  teachers,  and  they  never  learn 
aught  else  but  submission  to  the  dogmas  of  the  Church 
and  the  mandates  of  its  apostles.  They,  as  a  rule,  remain 
aliens  to  the  government ;  and  no  claim  upon  the  citizen 
is  tolerated  that  in  any  degree  antagonizes  the  claims  or 
doctrines  of  the  Church. 

I  regard  Brigham  Young  as  a  man  greatly  underesti- 
mated by  most  persons  in  the  East.  They  all  judge  him 
mainly  by  his  ribald  and  often  blasphemous  harangues 
from  the  pulpit,  and  do  not  appreciate  him  as  a  great  ad- 


156  BRIGS  AM  YOUNG. 

ministrator  and  a  leader  of  surpassing  attainments.  I 
first  saw  him  in  his  own  business-room.  He  was  nearly 
or  perhaps  quite  alone  when  I  entered,  but  almost  instantly 
several  side  doors  opened,  and  half  a  dozen  brothers,  sons, 
secretaries,  etc.  were  seated  around  the  little  office.  I  learn 
that  he  never  sees  any  person  alone,  unless  he  knows  per- 
fectly the  character  of  the  visitor,  and  that  when  strangers 
call  on  him  his  person  is  guarded  from  possible  assassination 
by  the  apparently  casual  but  doubtless  systematic  appear- 
ance of  his  immediate  friends.  He  greets  the  visitor  with 
serene  dignity  and  faultless  courtesy,  and  converses  freely 
and  quite  intelligently  on  all  agreeable  topics.  He  was 
evidently  in  no  mood  for  a  talk  about  the  inside  workings 
of  Mormonism ;  and  an  inquiry  as  to  the  number  of  his 
wives  and  children,  and  their  health,  would  doubtless  have 
terminated  the  interview  most  abruptly.  He  is  a  well-pre- 
served man  of  sixty-six  years,  of  medium  height,  rather 
corpulent,  with  an  abundant  growth  of  light,  auburn  hair, 
and  a  heavy  crop  of  sandy  whiskers,  excepting  on  his 
upper  and  lower  lips.  His  eyes  are  of  a  very  light,  dull 
blue,  and  wanting  in  expression,  his  nose  sharp  and  promi- 
nent, his  lips  thick  and  firmly  set,  and  the  whole  gives 
him  the  appearance  of  a  man  of  obstinate  will  and  cold, 
calculating  purpose.  His  head  is  of  unusual  shape.  The 
face  is  quite  broad  just  across  the  centre,  and  gradually 
narrows  up  to  the  top  of  the  forehead  and  down  to  the 
point  of  the  chin,  while  his  neck  is  of  uncommon  thick- 
ness, and  describes  a  semi-oval  line  from  the  base  of  the 
head  to  the  top,  tapering  gradually  to  the  crown,  giving  it 
a  sugar-loaf  finish.  He  is  evidently  a  man  of  the  keenest 
perception,  of  great  self-reliance  and  will,  of  the  subtlest 
cunning,  and  possesses  a  physical  organization  capable  of 
the  highest  measure  of  endurance.  In  his  manner  and 
movements  he  is  quite  graceful,  indicating  considerable1 


ins  WIVES.  15 1 

culture,  but  really  the  fruit  of  his  varied  experience  and 
intercourse  with  all  classes  of  men.  No  man  could  acquire 
any  needed  quality  more  readily  than  Brigham  Young. 
He  is  eminent  as  a  mimic,  and  often  resorts  to  mimicry  as 
his  most  powerful  weapon  in  hurling  his  anathemas  against 
the  gentiles  or  apostates  in  his  sermons.  In  short,  I  would 
put  him  down,  after  meeting  him  in  his  office  and  hear- 
ing him  in  the  pulpit,  as  a  finished  impostor,  singularly 
able,  versatile,  and  unscrupulous,  and  as  one  who  seeks 
to  hide  his  revolting  licentiousness  by  deliberate  blas- 
phemy. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  know  the  number  of  wives  and  chil- 
dren Brigham  Young  can  boast.  I  believe  that  no  two 
writers  have  estimated  them  alike ;  and  I  have  found  no 
Mormon,  in  the  scores  with  whom  I  have  conversed  on 
the  subject,  who  professed  to  know.  It  is  conceded,  how- 
ever, that  he  has  some  twenty  who  are  members  of  his 
household,  and  probably  a  score  of  others  who  are  simply 
sealed  to  him  as  spiritual  wives,  to  share  his  high  crown 
in  the  future  world.  Even  the  dead  have  been  wedded  to 
him  by  proxy,  to  satisfy  the  anxiety  of  deluded  parents 
who  wished  their  departed  daughters  to  wear  starry  robes 
around  the  prophet  in  heaven.  Of  his  living  wives,  who 
are  subject  to  his  domestic  laws,  the  first,  who  was  his 
lawful  wife  before  polygamy  was  thought  of  as  part  of  the 
Mormon  faith,  now  lives  in  a  pleasant,  spacious  cottage  by 
herself,  some  distance  from  the  harem  that  is  peopled  with 
the  fairer  and  more  tender  acquisitions  to  his  family  circle. 
She  is  said  to  be  a  firm  believer  in  the  faith,  and  accepts 
her  situation  as  a  cross  imposed  upon  her  to  enhance  her 
reward  hereafter.  I  saw  her  in  the  theatre,  along  with 
five  junior  wives,  who  had  succeeded  each  other  in  the 
favor  of  the  prophet  and  had  given  way  in  time  to  younger 
and  fresher  charms.  Of  all  the  so-called  Mrs.  Youngs  I 


158          POLYGAMY  AS  A   SOURCE   OF  POWER.1 

have  seen,  the  lawful  wife  seems  much  the  most  intelligent 
and  refined.  The  last  one.  and  of  course  for  the  present 
the  favorite,  had  a  private  box-  in  the  theatre,  sported  gay 
ribbons  and  furbelows,  and  seemed  to  look  down  upon  her 
faded  predecessors  with  the  contempt  they  deserved.  She 
is  a  niece  of  the  first  wife,  and  defies  even  Brigham's  boasted 
domestic  government.  She  was  tried  in  the  harem,  but  her 
rebellious  spirit  threatened  the  subversion  of  all  law  and 
order  there,  and  she  is  now  quartered  in  a  house  of  her  own, 
beyond  range  of  the  others.  I  do  not,  of  course,  credit  all 
the  stories  of  revolting  scenes  detailed  as  occurring  in  the 
extensive  family  of  the  Prophet;  but  it  is  well  known  that 
the  last  addition  to  the  wives  hectors  her  anointed  frac- 
tion of  a  husband  in  the  most  irreverent  style,  and  storms 
the  holy  inner  circle  of  inspired  power  with  profane  speech 
and  violent  pugilistic  gestures.  Although  each  one  after 
the  first  has  usurped  the  place  of  another,  not  one  has 
been  discarded  for  a  successor  without  the  keenest  sorrow, 
and  often  only  after  frenzied  but  fruitless  resistance. 

Polygamy  was  not  a  part  of  the  Mormon  creed  as  pro- 
mulgated by  Smith.  On  the  contrary,  he  expressly  de- 
nounced it,  and  his  widow  and  sons  have  discarded  the 
Salt  Lake  Mormons  because  of  the  adulterous  practices 
committed  in  the  name  of  the  Church.  Brigham  Young 
is  the  founder  of  the  polygamic  feature  of  the  faith  of  the 
Latter-Day  Saints.  While  I  doubt  not  that  lust  had  much 
to  do  with  its  adoption,  yet,  as  a  means  of  attaining  des- 
potic power,  it  has  served  an  important  purpose.  Mr. 
Young  has  four  brothers,  all  adhering  to  the  Church  in 
this  city,  and  all  with  a  plurality  of  wives.  His  sons 
imitate  his  example  with  filial  fidelity;  and  his  daughters 
are  married  only  into  harems  of  the  more  intelligent  and 
influential  members  of  the  Church.  By  this  system  he  is 
directly  related  to  every  family  of  importance  in  Zion,  and 


TERRORS  OF  POLYGAMY  TO  MORMON  WOMEX.      159 

his  power  is  perpetuated.  By  thus  binding  the  more  in- 
telligent to  his  cause  by  marriage  ties,  he  is  enabled  to 
command  the  complete  submission  of  the  unlearned,  by 
declaring  polygamy  to  be  the  duty  of  the  faithful,  and 
promising  the  heart-broken  wives  that  their  crosses  are 
but  creating  for  them  brighter  crowns  above. 

I  had  much  anxiety  to  see  polygamy  in  the  household, 
but  have  failed.  Not  only  are  strangers  practically  denied 
acquaintance  with  plural  wives,  but  the  subject  is  never  a 
welcome  one  in  conversation.  I  have  talked  with  many 
Mormons  who  are  polygamists,  and  in  every  instance 
when  I  asked  respecting  their  wives,  they  responded  as  if 
I  had  introduced  to  them  some  painful  and  delicate  scandal 
about  their  families.  I  found  but  one  who  claimed,  and  I 
learn  justly,  to  have  two  wives  in  one  house,  and  both 
happy.  In  most  instances  each  wife  must  have  a  sepa- 
rate house,  to  hide  herself  from  humiliation  and  shame. 
Of  all  who  introduced  the  subject  to  me,  I  asked  the 
question,  "Did  your  first  wife  cheerfully  consent  to 
your  marriage  to  another?"  and  in  not  a  single  instance 
was  an  affirmative  answer  given.  Mormon  or  gentile, 
with  one  accord  the  women  revolt  against  it.  They 
must  cease  to  be  women,  and  descend  into  the  scale  of 
brutes,  before  the  wives  of  Salt  Lake  can  voluntarily 
consent  to  such  appalling  degradation.  One-third  of  the 
entire  adult  male  population  of  Utah  is  now  practicing 
polygamy,  and  in  Salt  Lake  City  the  proportion  is  larger. 
It  hangs  like  a  terrible  pall  upon  the  mothers,  wives,  and 
daughters  of  the  Saints.  Not  only  those  who  have  been 
enfolded  in  its  slimy  embrace  mourn  from  day  to  day  their 
hard  lot,  but  those  who  have  thus*  far  escaped  its  pollu- 
tion know  not  how  soon  the  spoiler  may  enter  their  fire- 
sides, and  harrowing  anxiety  dims  the  lustre  of  their  eyes 
and  traces  its  shadows  upon  their  faces. 


i 


160  PREACHING   IN  THE  TABERNACLE. 

Not  only  is  licentiousness  ever  pleading  the  cause  of 
polygamy,  but  the  Church  demands  it  of  all  men  who  can 
afford  more  than  one  wife,  and  women  are  taught  to  con- 
sent to  it  on  pain  of  eternal  damnation.  I  heard  four 
Mormon  sermons  on  Sunday — two  by  fools  and  two  by 
knaves.  The  one,  for  instance,  who  declared  that  he  had 
seen  Joseph  Smith  perfectly  personated  in  Brigham  Young 
when  he  thrust  Rigdon  out  and  assumed  the  presidency 
himself,  even  to  a  broken  front  tooth,  was  simply  a  lunatic. 
In  the  course  of  his  sermon  he  gave  the  particulars  of  his 
conversion.  He  proposed  to  the  Lord  that  if  He  would 
appear  in  person  to  him  he  would  believe,  and  the  Lord 
appeared  to  him,  and  he  thenceforth  became  a  Saint,  He 
was  followed  by  one  of  the  shrewdest  of  the  elders,  who 
argued  with  some  plausibility  that  the  original  Church  of 
Christ  had  strayed  and  broken  into  discordant  branches, 
and  that  it  had  been  founded  again  by  Smith  and  Young 
and  was  separate  from  the  world  and  united  in  its  groat 
work.  In  the  afternoon,  we  had  an  incoherent  and  sense- 
less harangue  from  a  Cockney;  but  Brigham  pulled  him 
down  by  the  coat-tail  in  a  short  time,  and  took  the  pulpit 
himself.  His  speech  would  read,  away  in  the  East,  like  the 
foolish  vaporing  of  a  conceited  blackguard  ;  but  never  were 
remarks  more  timely  or  better  adapted  to  the  people  he 
addressed.  He  argued  for  twenty  minutes,  that  not  one 
person  in  forty  knew  how  to  take  care  of  himself  in  either 
temporal  or  spiritual  matters ;  that  all  must  have  leaders 
experienced  in  temporal,  and  inspired  in  religious  affairs ; 
that  they  must  live  submissively  to  those  who  are  compe- 
tent to  lead  them,  or  be  cut  off  with  the  wicked.  He  com- 
plained of  the  selfishness  of  some  of  the  Saints.  Said  he, 
"  People  I  brought  here  from  serfdom,  who  could  not  own 
a  chicken  before  they  came,  and  who  wen1  glad  to  take  a 
spade  from  me  to  get  a  crust  of  bread,  now  have  lands,  and 


BRIG  HAM   YOUNG'S  BLASPHEMY.  161 

houses,  and  cattle,  and  greenbacks,  and  carriages;  and 
they  want  to  dictate  to  me ;  they  want  to  sap  the  founda- 
tion of  Zion ;  but  I  will  not  be  dictated  to.  I  am  called  of 
the  Lord,  and  it  is  mine  to  teach,  and  yours  to  obey.  I 
say  what  I  please ;  I  put  up  this  pulpit  with  the  crimson 
covering,  and  paid  for  it  myself,  expressly  to  go  into  it 
and  say  what  I  please.  I  will  take  it  away  if  I  like,  and 
stand  on  a  table  or  chair ;  for  the  Lord's  will  can  be  de- 
clared in  one  way  as  well  as  another."  And  thus  he  ram- 
bled on,  but  always  with  evident  method.  After  pleading 
for  unity,  he  told  the  young  ladies  of  the  Church  that  they 
had  no  capacity  for  taking  care  of  themselves  and  their 
honor,  and  that  the  Church,  with  its  ceremonies  and  cove- 
nants, was  their  only  safety.  He  closed  by  demanding 
that  gentiles  and  apostates  be  shunned  in  all  dealings, 
even  although  it  costs  more  to  purchase  from  a  Saint 
"You  may  answer,"  said  he,  "that  is  none  of  my  d — d 
business.  Perhaps  it  is  not,  just  now;  but  the  time  will 
soon  come  when  it  will  be  my  business  to  testify  respect- 
ing this  people,  and  I  pledge  you  that  those  who  disobey 
this  command  shall  not  enter  into  the  strait  gate.  I  will 
not  speak  hard  of  you  if  you  don't  stop  wasting  your 
dollars  with  gentiles  and  apostates,  nor  will  I  think  hard 
of  you ;  but  I  will  say,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  let  the  righteous  be  saved,  and  the  wicked  go  their 
way  to  everlasting  punishment."  I  saw  poor  infatuated 
Mormons  shudder  at  this  terrible  anathema  from  one  they 
supposed  to  be  an  inspired  oracle  of  God ;  and  the  fear  of 
his  malediction  is  one  of  the  strongest  elements  of  cohe- 
siveness  with  the  deluded  masses  of  his  followers.  In  the 
foregoing  quotations  I  have  given  his  language  almost 
literally,  and  preserved  the  sentiments  faithfully,  without 
the  least  embellishment. 

Brigham  Young  is  the   supreme  temporal   as  well  as 
15 


162  HIS  FINANCIAL   MANAGEMENT. 

spiritual  head  of  the  Church,  and  he  is  no  more  responsible 
to  his  fellows  in  temporal  than  in  spiritual  matters.  The 
Church  property  is  all  in  his  name  in  fee,  the  titles  are  re- 
ceived by  him,  and  he  accounts  to  no  one,  nor  will  he 
tolerate  inquiry  as  to  the  expenditures.  A  prominent  Mor- 
mon merchant  here,  whose  tithes  amounted  to  a  very  large 
sum  of  money,  demanded  a  statement  of  the  receipts  and 
disbursements,  and  he  was  cut  off  from  the  Saints  here 
and  from  the  Saints  in  heaven.  When  it  is  considered 
that  all  Mormons  are  required  to  give  to  the  Church  one- 
tenth  of  all  they  raise  in  kind  and  one-tenth  of  all  they 
make  in  any  business,  the  magnitude  of  the  fund  intrusted 
to  Young  without  question  or  check  of  any  sort  is  start- 
ling. First  of  all  he  supplies  his  harem  and  numerous 
progeny ;  then  he  builds  at.  the  tabernacle  and  temple  ; 
then  mills,  theatres,  factories,  etc.,  all  in  his  own  name, 
receiving  the  proceeds  ostensibly  for  the  Church,  and  no 
one  daring  to  question  his  judgment  or  demand  a  balance- 
sheet.  His  annual  income  now  cannot  be  less  than  half  a 
million  dollars.  The  humble,  deluded  followers  believe 
that  it  is  wisely  and  faithfully  expended ;  but  do  not  the 
licentious  leaders  know  better  ? 

There  are  palpable  signs  of  dissolution  in  the  Mormon 
Church.  The  Josephites  (the  followers  of  Smith)  pro- 
nounce polygamy  a  sin,  and  they  claim  to  be  the  true  Mor- 
mon Church  and  entitled  to  the  Church  property.  When 
Brigham  was  South,  this  spring,  he  had  to  "cut  off"  sev- 
eral hundred  members  for  heresy,  because  they  adhered 
to  Smith;  and  over  one  hundred  wagon-loads  of  emigrants 
are  now  in  the  mountains  on  their  way  East  to  escape  his 
fearful  vengeance.  The  Morrisites  are  another  class  of  dis- 
senters, and  have  no  fellowship  with  the  Salt  Lake  Church. 
They  denounce  polygamy,  and  are  constantly  receiving 
acquisitions  to  their  numbers.  They  have  a  strong  settle- 


DISTRACTING   ISSUES  IN  THE  CHURCH.        163 

ment  in  Utah,  at  Soda  Springs,  under  the  very  shadow  of 
the  Prophet.  Every  sermon  I  heard  from  the  Mormons 
betrayed  nervous  fears  as  to  divisions ;  some  appealed, 
some  unfolded  the  duty  of  submission,  and  Brigham  thun- 
dered his  fierce  anathemas  against  the  faithless.  Gentile 
dealings  and  associations  are  forbidden,  because  Mormon- 
ism  cannot  bear  contact  with  virtue  and  truth,  nor  can  its 
crowning  crime  of  polygamy  bear  contact  even  with  vice. 
Virtue  and  vice  are  alike  its  foes  and  equally  fatal  to  its 
perpetuity.  Thus  is  the  Mormonism  of  Young  beset  by 
schisms,  periled  by  growing  intercourse  with  gentiles ;  and 
soon  the  Pacific  Railroad  will  pour  thousands  of  popula- 
tion into  all  the  fruitful  valleys  of  the  West,  and  in  but  a 
few  years  the  distinctiveness  of  this  people  must  fade  away. 
While  the  government  has  been  shamefully  remiss  in  tol- 
erating the  habitual,  insolent  defiance  of  one  of  its  soundest 
laws,  it  seems  that  natural  causes  are  fast  converging  to 
the  overthrow  of  this  foulest  blot  upon  the  American  name. 
One  gentile  family  in  a  community  of  polygamists  is  better 
than  a  thousand  sermons  against  this  colossal  crime.  One 
happy,  cheerful  wife,  confident  of  the  undivided  affection 
of  her  husband,  is  like  an  angel  of  light  in  the  region  of 
despair ;  and  even  the  deepest-seated  superstition  gradually 
yields,  as  it  sees  the  gentile  wife  worship  with  her  hus- 
band and  household  gods,  read  from  a  common  Bible, 
plead  the  atonement  of  the  same  Saviour,  and  supplicate 
the  same  God.  Secret  discontent,  positive  dissatisfaction, 
or  open  rebellion  has  its  place  around  every  fireside,  and 
each  year  develops  in  bolder  tones  and  more  defiant  ac- 
tions the  restless  cancer  that  is  preying  upon  the  vitals 
of  this  monstrous  vice.  It  must  soon  die.  Its  own  enor- 
mity must  give  it  the  grave  of  a  suicide,  if  no  other  great 
causes  were  tending  to  its  destruction ;  but  it  is  a  blister- 
ing shame  that,  in  this  noontide  of  the  nineteenth  century, 


164      CAUSES  TENDING  TO  DESTROY  MORMONISM. 

just  laws  forbidding  this  wholesale  prostitution,  practiced 
in  appalling  mockery  and  blasphemy  of  all  that  is  pure 
and  holy,  stand  as  dead  letters  upon  our  national  statute- 
books.  With  the  strong  arm  of  the  government  firmly 
maintaining  virtue,  order,  and  law — ever  careful  to  en- 
croach upon  no  rights  of  conscience  or  freedom  of  worship 
— this  wrong  would  soon  hide  itself  from  the  scorn  of 
society,  instead  of  boasting  of  its  social  supremacy,  and 
linger  out  its  future  existence  in  shame.  As  an  insti- 
tution, it  would  at  once  cease  to  have  a  habitation  or 
a  name,  and  this  twin-sister  of  human  bondage,  equally 
fruitful  of  treason  and  of  crime,  would  perish  from  the  fair 
land  of  freedom  and  justice. 


BRIGHAM  YOUNG. 


ll-pa 


LETTER    XVII. 

The  Pleasant  City  of  the  Saints.— Their  Industry  and  Thrift.— 
Their  Enjoyments.— The  Great  Basin.— Salt  Lake.— Its  Tribu- 
taries.— Why  Utah  was  chosen  by  the  Mormons. — Character 
of  the  Valley  when  they  found  it. — Success  of  Mormon  Indus- 
try.— The  Mormon  Keligion. — Brigharn  Young  Spiritual  and 
Temporal  Head  of  the  Church. — His  Wives. — The  Eeligious 
Feature  of  Polygamy. — Mormon  Wives  again. — Mormon  Ser- 
vice in  the  Tabernacle. — The  Blot  of  Polygamy. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  19, 1867. 

I  HAVE  now  spent  a  week  with  the  Latter-Day  Saints, 
admired  their  green  shades,  beautiful  artificial  streams, 
pleasant  homes,  and  the  innumerable  evidences  of  indus- 
try and  prosperity  which  appear  on  every  hand.  Their 
markets  are  filled  with  the  choicest  vegetables,  and  the 
finest  strawberries  of  the  continent  are  offered  every  hour 
of  the  day,  at  reasonable  prices.  Stores  equal  to  those  of 
the  cities  of  the  Western  States  are  numerous,  and  busi- 
ness of  all  branches  has  an  air  of  system,  capital,  and 
thrift  that  is  delightful.  This  is  a  city  of  twenty  thousand 
population,  without  paupers,  brothels,  or  gambling-hells. 
Among  the  Mormons,  who  constitute  over  ninety  per  cent, 
of  the  people,  there  are  none  idle,  and  they  claim  that  none 
suffer.  The  bee-hive  is  found  on  the  dome  of  the  Prophet's 
house,  and  frequently  on  rude  business  signs,  as  typical 
of  the  habits  of  the  faithful.  All  must  work ;  and,  while 
each  owns  his  property  gained  by  industry,  there  is  still  a 
common  store  where  the  distressed  and  children  of  want 
repair.  And  industry  is  brightened  in  every  possible  way. 

15*  (  165  ) 


166  SALT  LAKE   CITY. 

In  the  evening  the  merry  dance  is  to  be  heard  in  almost 
every  ward ;  the  theatre  is  never  closed  for  any  length  of 
time,  and  recreation  is  devised  in  every  conceivable  manner 
to  lighten  the  burdens  of  toil. 

Salt  Lake  City  is  in  what  is  called  the  Great  Basin  of 
the  West.  A  section  of  country,  nearly  a  circle,  with  a 
radius  of  about  three  hundred  miles  from  the  centre,  is 
walled  in  by  the  Wasatch  Mountains  on  the  east,  the 
Sierra  Nevada  on  the  west,  and  their  broken  spurs  north 
and  south.  This  great  valley  has  no  outlet  for  its  waters. 
The  Jordan,  Ogden,  Bear,  and  Weber  Rivers,  with  many 
lesser  streams,  empty  into  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  distant 
about  twelve  miles  from  this  city.  It  is  ninety  miles  long, 
and  averages  about  thirty  in  width,  and  is  the  most  briny 
body  of  water  in  the  world.  So  strongly  is  it  impregnated 
with  salt,  that  its  shores  are  but  a  bed  of  salt,  and  a  man 
in  the  lake  will  float  like  a  cork.  Sink  he  cannot ;  but  the 
head  must  be  kept  carefully  uppermost,  for  in  whatever 
position  he  lands  in  the  water  he  is  likely  to  remain.  If 
head  down,  down  the  head  will  stay,  and  it  requires 
almost  a  superhuman  effort  to  reverse  the  position  of  the 
body.  In  the  lake  are  vast  islands  and  high,  rugged 
mountains,  some  of  them  covered  with  nutritious  grass  and 
abounding  in  fresh  springs.  Cattle  and  horses  are  grazed 
there,  and  thrive  better  than  anywhere  else  in  the  Terri- 
tory. South  of  this  the  river  Sevier  empties  into  Lake 
Sevier,  which  is  also  without  an  outlet ;  but  the  waters 
sink,  and  do  not  become  salt.  In  the  western  portion  of 
the  Great  Basin  (now  the  State  of  Nevada)  there  are  a 
number  of  large  rivers,  and  all  sink  into  the  earth  at  differ- 
ent points  in  the  valley  and  doubtless  find  subterranean 
passages  to  the  sea.  The  Humboldt,  Walker,  Carson, 
Truckee,  and  other  rivers  drain  Nevada,  and  all  are  without 
an  open  channel  to  the  ocean.  Some  of  them  empty  into 


INDUSTRY  OF  THE  MORMONS.  167 

lakes,  but  none  of  them  are  salt,  and  all  doubtless  have 
invisible  outlets. 

This  great  basin  was  once  regarded  as  a  vast  desert. 
The  Mormons  accepted  it  as  their  home  to  escape  the 
antagonism  of  the  Christians,  and  supposed  that  here  they 
could  remain  unmolested  for  centuries.  When  they  arrived 
here,  there  was  not  so  much  as  a  trail  across  the  mount- 
ains. This  valley,  as  well  as  all  west  to  the  Pacific  and 
south  to  the  Gulf,  belonged  to  Mexico  ;  and  one  of  the  chief 
motives  for  the  Mormon  pilgrimage  to  this  place  was  to 
escape  the  hated  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States.  But, 
within  a  year  after  they  located  here,  the  territory  was 
acquired  from  Mexico,  and  they  again  became  unwilling 
and  disloyal  subjects  of  our  government.  When  they 
arrived  here,  there  was  nothing  to  promise  them  requited 
labor  and  plentiful  harvests.  The  soil  was  sterile,  acrid, 
full  of  alkali,  and  refused  to  produce  anything  but  the 
dreary  sage  and  grease-wood ;  but  Mormon  industry  flooded 
it  with  artificial  rains,  tamed  it  with  corn  and  buckwheat, 
and  now  raises  as  fine  wheat,  oats,  barley,  etc.  as  are  grown 
in  the  Union.  Not  a  shrub  or  tree  shaded  this  vast  desert 
plain  when  they  made  it  their  home ;  but  they  had  with 
them  the  seeds  of  the  locust,  and  they  gathered  the  little 
cottonwoods  along  the  streams,  and  now  tUe  city  is  one 
forest  of  the  most  heartsome  shades,  and  the  gardens  are 
covered  with  the  green  foliage  of  every  species  of  fruit 
trees.  They  seem  to  have  aimed  to  make  this  as  nearly 
a  paradise  for  the  stranger  as  human  effort  could  make  it, 
and  they  have  succeeded  better  than  do  most  Christians 
in  surrounding  their  homes,  from  the  most  humble  to  the 
most  spacious,  with  the  beauty,  fragrance,  and  fruitfulness 
of  nature. 

But  the  peculiar  religion,  or  professed  religion,  of  the 
Mormons,  is  the  most  marvelous  problem  of  the  age.  Here 


168     BRIG II AM  YOUNG  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

are  one  hundred  thousand  people,  the  most  industrious,  as 
a  class,  on  the  face  of  the  earth, — sober,  neighborly,  of  good 
repute  as  a  rule,  and  most  of  them  sincerely  and  devoutly 
pious  in  their  way, — who  tolerate  and  sustain  in  their  leaders 
the  most  arrant  swindling  and  revolting  licentiousness,  and 
call  it  making  sacrifices  to  the  Lord.  Of  the  one  hundred 
thousand  Mormons,  nine-tenths  are  ignorant  aliens,  who 
were  the  slaves  of  the  mines  or  the  serfs  of  the  proprietors 
in  the  old  countries.  They  need  but  little  here  to  improve 
their  condition,  and,  as  a  rule,  they  have  been  made  owners 
of  their  homes.  All  they  ever  did  learn,  they  have  learned 
from  the  Mormons ;  and  it  is  not  so  surprising,  therefore,  that 
they  bow  implicitly  to  the  teachings  of  those  they  believed 
to  be  inspired  from  on  high.  If  I  were  going  to  analyze 
the  Mormon  population,  I  would  set  down  nineteen  of  every 
twenty  as  pitiable  dupes,  and  the  remaining  one-twentieth 
as  the  most  expert  and  successful  knaves  on  the  earth. 

Brigham  Young  is  the  spiritual  and  temporal  head  of 
the  Church.  He  assumes  to  be  the  successor  of  Christ,  and 
is  esteemed  by  his  deluded  followers  as  of  equal  power  and 
glory  with  the  Saviour.  They  hold  that  Jesus  was  the 
first  Messiah,  Joseph  Smith  the  second,  and  Brigham 
Young  the  third  ;  and  I  heard  it  distinctly  taught  in  the 
tabernacle  that  Christ,  Smith,  and  Young  would  come  back 
to  the  earth  together,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  to  reign  with 
the  people  of  God.  Accepted  as  of  divine  anointment — 
indeed,  as  being  in  immediate  communication  with  the 
Almighty,  as  the  oracle  through  whom  God  speaks  to  his 
chosen  people, — it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  can  riot  in 
wealth,  pick  the  fairest  and  tenderest  lambs  from  the  flock 
to  gratify  his  beastly  lusts,  and  have  the  streets  filled  with 
his  children  who  are  fed,  clothed,  and  schooled  by  the 
labor  of  his  followers. 

I  spent  half  an  hour  with  him  in  his  inner  sanctuary ; 


THE   RELIGIOUS  FEATURE  OF  POLYGAMY.      169 

lint  it  was  a  mere  show, — like  going  to  see  any  other  mon- 
strosity. Some  half  a  dozen  others  were  with  me,  includ- 
ing Mrs.  M.,  and  the  Prophet  was  courteous,  but  reticent. 
He  did  not  know  who  we  might  be,  and  his  never-failing 
sagacity  made  him  self-poised  and  diplomatic  in  an  eminent 
degree.  He  most  adroitly  warded  off  several  neat  strategic 
movements  to  get  an  insight  of  Mormonism,  and  kept  the 
party  to  glittering  generalities  with  masterly  skill.  When- 
ever the  conversation  became  unpleasant  for  him,  he  would 
turn  to  Mrs  M.  and  address  her  with  great  elegance  and 
fluency  on  commonplace  topics.  I  had  a  seat  beside  his 
oldest  son,  who  was  not  so  prudent  as  the  father,  and  I  had 
his  view  of  true  Mormonism.  "  Religion,"  said  he,  "  with- 
out plurality  of  wives  in  the  Lord,  is  the  play  of  Hamlet 
with  Hamlet  left  out ;"  and  he  gave  me  a  patronizing  look,  as 
if  he  pitied  my  unbelief.  I  did  not  venture  on  a  discussion, 
as  we  had  merely  called  to  see  the  lions,  and  could  not, 
in  a  general  conversation,  learn  much  worth  knowing. 
Around  the  house,  or  rather  houses,  of  Mr.  Young,  there 
were  a  score  of  children,  from  three  to  ten  years  of  age, 
most  of  them  girls,  with  different  mothers,  but  all  owning 
Brigham  as  father.  He  has  some  twenty  wives  who  are 
named  to  him  in  the  flesh,  and  perhaps  twice  as  many  who 
are  sealed  to  him  merely  to  become  his  spiritual  wives  in 
heaven.  I  need  not  say  that  these,  as  a  class,  are  long- 
neglected  spinsters  and  unsightly  widows,  who  have  failed 
to  gain  a  union  in  the  flesh.  I  saw  several  of  them  stowed 
away  in  one  corner  of  the  theatre ;  and  it  was  not  difficult 
to  determine  why  they  were  merely  sealed  as  wives  for  the 
spirit-land.  I  notice  that  in  no  instance  do  the  Prophet 
and  Elders  seal  the  young  and  beautiful  daughters  of  the 
church  as  spiritual  wives.  Severe  as  they  profess  the  cross 
to  be,  they  accept  them  in  the  flesh,  usually  to  the  neglect 
and  sorrow  of  their  older  partners.  In  the  theatre  were 


170  BRIGHAM  YOUNG'S    WIVES. 

six  of  Brigham's  wives  in  a  row,  the  original  wife  occupy- 
ing a  comfortable  rocking-chair  as  the  honored  mother  in 
Israel.  She  looks  like  a  woman  of  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment ;  but  rude  furrows  have  been  plowed  in  her  face  by 
ever-visible  grief.  She  lives  in  a,  cottage  by  herself,  and 
seldom  is  favored  with  visits  from  her  lord.  The  others 
are  all  women  beneath  mediocrity,  all  more  or  less  faded, 
and  none  bearing  the  traces  of  early  beauty.  They  are  the 
sobered  and  practically  discarded  mistresses  of  the  Prophet, 
and  have  served  their  purpose,  while  other  and  fairer  faces 
usurp  the  favor  they  each  in  turn  enjoyed.  They  are 
relics  of  the  past,  and  see'm  to  have  quietly  resigned  them- 
selves to  their  fate.  And  why  should  they  not?  Each 
one,  as  she  became  the  favorite  so-called  wife,  pushed  others 
aside ;  and  they  accepted  their  degraded  position  with  the 
full  knowledge  that  the  passions  which  were  sated  with 
their  predecessors  would  in  time  demand  others  to  take 
their  places.  The  favorite  is,  of  course,  the  last  wife  ;  and 
while  the  venerable,  unsightly  spiritual  wives  were  hud- 
dled in  a  corner  in  plainest  garb,  and  those  discarded  in 
the  flesh  crowded  each  other  in  a  row  near  the  centre  of 
the  parquette,  the  richly  gilded  and  curtained  private  box, 
and  softly  cushioned  chair,  held  the  last  fair  flower  trans- 
planted to  the  harem.  She  is  still  gay  and  festive,  has  a 
queenly  step,  sports  her  elegant  opera-glass  and  the  best 
of  ribbons  and  laces.  She  is  the  niece  of  the  first  wife,  and, 
like  most  babes  in  large  families,  is  the  spoiled  child  of  the 
establishment.  Notwithstanding  the  holy  sphere  in  which 
she  moves,  she  occasionally  combs  the  head  of  the  Prophet 
with  a  three-legged  stool,  raises  Hail  Columbia  in  the  very 
sanctuary  of  the  holies,  and  smashes  a  chair  over  the 
piano  to  prove  her  devout  affection  for  the  sacred  calling 
she  has  accepted.  So  revolutionary  has  she  been,  in  spite 
of  divine  commands  from  the  very  oracles  of  Heaven,  that 


MORMON  BELIEF  IN  REGARD   TO    WOMEN.      171 

she  had  to  be  "  corraled"  in  a  house  by  herself ;  and  there 
she  rules  in  her  own  boisterous,  obstinate  way,  and  makes 
the  Prophet  bow  at  her  feet,  instead  of  becoming  the  meek, 
submissive  wife  the  Church  demands  of  all  on  pain  of  eter- 
nal punishment. 

According  to  the  Mormon  faith,  women  have  no  status  in 
heaven  excepting  such  as  is  given  them  by  their  husbands  ; 
and,  as  they  cannot  be  given  in  marriage  there,  it  is  of  the 
first  importance  to  all  women  to  become  wives.  If  they 
become  the  wife  of  a  man  who  has  many  others,  and  sad 
crosses  and  trials  result  therefrom,  they  thus  lay  up  for 
themselves  bright  crowns  in  heaven.  In  accordance  with 
this  belief,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  dying  damsels  to  send 
for  high  officials  in  the  Church  and  be  sealed  to  them  before 
death,  so  as  to  gain  a  high  seat  with  their  spiritual  hus- 
bands ;  and  even  the  dead  are  sometimes  married  by  proxy, 
near  friends  representing  them,  to  lift  them  up  to  a  level 
with  their  spiritual  lords  in  the  future  world.  This  doc- 
trine is  preached  daily  to  the  women  by  men  who  claim, 
and  are  believed,  to  be  inspired  by  God,  and  as  a  rule  it  is 
accepted  religiously  by  the  Mormon  women.  Yet  each  one 
struggles  to  avert  the  pollution  of  her  own  domestic  circle, 
and  prays  that  the  bitter  cup  may  pass  from  her.  I  hear 
of  one  man  who  married  two  wives  together  who  has  a 
peaceful  household ;  but  no  wife  in  all  Utah  has  received 
another  to  divide  or  rather  to  usurp  the  love  of  her  hus- 
band, without  consuming  sorrows.  They  bow  in  submis- 
sion to  it,  but,  in  spite  of  their  religious  infatuation  and 
the  promise  of  a  brighter  crown  above,  their  womanly 
instincts  revolt  at  it,  and  they  go  in  grief  the  remainder 
of  their  <l;i vs. 

I  wished  to  learn  of  Mormonism  from  its  votaries,  and 
of  polygamy  from  its  advocates  and  victims.  I  have  met 
its  advocates,  a  class  confined  to  husbands,  and 'heard  the 


172  MORMON   WIVES. 

best  defense  of  that  peculiar  feature  of  their  faith ;  but  its 
victims  are  not  accessible  to  the  stranger.  I  met  a  few 
Mormon  ladies  who  are  wives  without  presiding  over  a 
brothel,  and  the  saddest  shadow  is  brought  to  their  faces 
by  the  slightest  reference  to  the  plurality  of  wives.  One 
most  intelligent  and  accomplished  wife,  who  with  her  hus- 
band professes  the  Mormon  faith  and  has  increased  in 
worldly  prosperity  thereby,  advocated  the  claims  of  the 
Mormon  people  to  the  generous  support  of  the  govern- 
ment, with  much  earnestness.  I  was  about  to  ask  her 
whether  she  would  be  willing  for  her  husband  to  bring  an- 
other so-called  wife  into  her  house ;  but  it  would  have  been 
too  cruel,  and  I  was  silent.  It  would  have  ended  the  con- 
versation, and  been  regarded  as  a  wanton  indignity  from  a 
guest  to  a  hostess.  I  have  seen  one  man  who  has  five  wives, 
— three  of  them  a  mother  and  two  daughters ;  others  who 
have  brought  to  their  homes  children  of  fourteen  years  and 
made  them  the  reigning  queens  of  their  firesides,  while 
their  lawful  wives,  often  with  children  older  than  their 
associates,  or  rather  successors,  bow  in  shame  with  broken 
hearts.  Old  men  of  sixty,  dignitaries  in  the  Church,  have 
half  a  dozen  or  more,  from  the  aged  partners  of  their 
youth,  down  to  the  latest  fancy,  always  of  the  tenderest 
years;  and  young  girls  are  thus  freely  sacrificed,  by  in- 
fatuated parents,  to  decrepit,  lecherous  beasts,  with  the 
firm  belief  that  it  is  a  religious  duty  and  will  be  rewarded 
in  heaven.  After  a  careful  observation  of  this  polygamic 
people,  I  must  accept  the  conviction  that  the  leaders  teach 
and  practice  it  simply  to  gratify  their  unbridled  licentious- 
ness, and  they  deliberately  blaspheme  God  and  his  holy 
precepts  to  maintain  their  polluting  doctrines.  Bear  in 
mind  that  polygamy  is  not  general  among  the  Mormon 
people.  Not  over  one-third  of  the  married  men  have  a 
plurality  of  wives,  and  they  are,  as  a  rule,  the  bishops, 


MORMON  SERVICE  IN  THE   TABERNACLE.       If 3 

elders,  councilors,  and  other  dignitaries,  who  handle  the 
tithings  and  fatten  on  the  toil  of  their  miserable  dupes. 

On  Sunday  I  attended  Mormon  service  in  the  taberna- 
cle, morning  and  evening,  and  heard  four  sermons.  The 
high  officials  do  not  attend  in  the  morning,  and  I  was  sur- 
prised at  the  low  grade  of  faces  almost  uniformly  presented. 
There  were  over  one  thousand  women  present,  and  there 
was  scarcely  a  bright,  intelligent,  happy  face  among  them. 
In  the  afternoon  the  elite  of  Tne  Church  attended  with  the 
others,  the  sacrament  was  administered  (as  it  is  every  Sun- 
day) and  Brigham  Young  preached.  There  were  fifteen 
hundred  women  present,  and  among  them  were  very  many 
bright,  pretty  faces,  with  lustrous  eyes,  rosy  cheeks,  and 
pouting  lips  that  might  tempt  even  a  gentile  kiss.  The 
choir  looked  like  a  jolly  May-party, — filled  with  pretty  girls, 
with  jaunty  hats  and  feathers,  and  all  most  tastefully  clad. 
A  crazy  Cockney  opened  the  service  by  a  rambling  har- 
angue demanding  equal  division  of  property  and  wives, 
and  cautioning,  with  peculiar  fervor,  the  "ewes  and  lambs" 
of  the  Church  against  gentile  unions.  Brigham  sat  be- 
hind him,  and  wearied  of  his  erratic  doctrines.  He  first 
tried  to  stop  him  by  crying  out  "  amen"  at  an  appropriate 
moment ;  but  the  inspired  minister  rushed  on.  Finally 
Brigham's  patience  was  exhausted,  and  he  seized  the 
Cockney  by  the  coat-tail  and  jerked  him  down,  when  the 
Prophet  ascended  the  sacred  desk  and  spoke  an  hour  witli 
rare  adroitness  and  perfect  fluency.  He  at  once  took  issue 
with  the  man  who  had  preceded  him,  and  declared  against 
an  equal  division  of  property.  "  Equalize  to-morrow,"  said 
he,  "and  how  long  will  it  remain  equal?  Not  a  month, 
not  a  week,  not  an  hour.  It  is  folly  to  talk  about  it.  Not 
one  in  forty  of  you  can  take  care  of  yourselves,  and  you 
must  be  dictated  to  by  some  one  who  has  experience  in 
temporal  matters  and  is  inspired  on  spiritual  matters." 

16 


It 4  THE  BLOT  OF  POLYGAMY. 

After  he  had  shown  them  that  they  could  not  manage 
their  own  affairs,  he  declared  that  he  was  their  leader  by 
divine  appointment;  he  would  dictate  to  them,  and  they 
must  obey.  He  appealed  to  the  women  to  be  true  to  the 
faith,  and  proclaimed  it  as  the  will,  even  the  command,  of 
the  Lord,  received  directly  from  Him,  that  they  must  not 
trade  with  gentiles  or  apostates,  who  refuse  to  give  tith- 
ings  to  the  Church.  His  arrogance,  profanity,  and  fre- 
quent assumption  of  omnipotent  power  were  shocking; 
but  a  careful  survey  of  the  audience  clearly  demonstrated 
that  he  spoke  with  much  worldly  wisdom  to  maintain  the 
infatuation  and  abject  submission  of  his  people.  After 
church,  Sunday  was  devoted  to  recreation,  and  the  de- 
lightful gardens  of  Salt  Lake  were  filled  with  pleasure- 
parties. 

How  long  is  this  blot  on  the  American  name  to  last? 
It  is  in  open  violation  of  law,  and  yet  the  law  seems 
powerless  to  vindicate  its  majesty.  Congress  has  enacted 
that  this  monstrous  crime  must  cease  to  pollute  the  fair- 
est homes  of  the  Far  West.  Why  does  it  not  enforce 
its  own  solemn  law  ?  It  needs  but  one  season  of  stern 
justice  to  scatter  it  to  the  winds  and  drive  the  bloated  im- 
postors from  their  sore  oppression  of  a  deluded  people  ; 
and  morality  and  public  decency  demand  that  it  be  speedily 
done. 


LETTER    XVIII. 

Continued  Interruption  of  Travel. — The  Indian  Campaigns. — The 
Injustice  done  the  Western  Treople. — Desire  of  the  West  for 
Peace.— The  Inefficiency  of  the  Military.— Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co. — Their  Horses  exposed  to  Indians  for  Want  of  Feed. — No 
Valuable  Horses  on  the  Mountain  Divisions. — Passengers  ex- 
posed to  Danger  for  Want  of  Stock. — The  Stables  undefended. 
— No  Horses  stolen  from  Defended  Stables. — Mr.  Holliday. — He 
deranges  the  Line,  and  then  falls  back. — Kindness  of  the  Em- 
ployes of  the  Company. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  20,  1867. 

As  yet  we  have  no  mail-communication  from  the  East 
since  the  interruption  of  travel  by  the  Indians  west  of  the 
North  Platte  ;  and,  judging  from  the  telegraphic  reports,  it 
may  be  a  month  before  there  can  be  anything  like  regular 
mails  again  from  the  terminus  of  the  Pacific  Railroad.  If 
military  matters  shall  be  directed  as  bunglingly  henceforth 
as  heretofore,  then  may  the  people  East  and  West  at  once 
abandon  all  hope  of  maintaining  the  overland  route  this 
season.  If  General  Sherman,  with  nearly  ten  thousand 
troops  in  the  departments  of  Augur  and  Hancock,  and  fully 
two  thousand  of  them  mounted,  could  not,  in  sixty  days 
after  reaching  the  Smoky  Hill  and  Platte,  protect  any  fifty 
miles  of  either  of  these  routes,  how  long  must  it  require, 
under  the  same  military  direction,  to  protect  three  hundred 
miles  from  Platte  City  to  Denver,  some  three  hundred  miles 
of  the  direct  line  of  railroad  from  Platte  City  west  to  the 
mountains,  now  being  located  and  constructed,  and  six 
hundred  miles  from  Denver  to  this  city  ?  Until  all  these 


1?6      INJUSTICE   DONE   THE    WESTERN  PEOPLE. 

lines  are  under  military  protection,  the  overland  mail  can- 
not be  run ;  and  the  people  of  the  East  can  judge  as  well 
as  I  can,  from  the  facts  stated,  how  soon  our  present  mili- 
tary system  will  accomplish  this  work. 

There  is  no  excuse  for  the  failure  of  the  military  com- 
manders to  protect  the  overland  route,  other  than  that  they 
don't  know  or  won't  discharge  their  duty.  General  Sherman 
has  wasted  fully  two  months  in  petty  quibbling  with  the 
Western  people,  and  must  have  known  that  nearly  every 
day  lives  of  settlers  and  emigrants  were  wantonly  sacri- 
ficed to  Indian  savagery,  and  stock  and  property  stolen  or 
destroyed,  until  they  now  amount  to  millions  in  value.  I 
doubt  not  that  he  was  harassed  by  speculators,  contrac- 
tors, and  thieves,  as  he  justly  complains,  and  that  they 
were  most  anxious  for  a  general  Indian  war ;  but  had  he 
covered  his  glittering  stars  and  spent  a  few  hours  in  plain 
conversation  with  intelligent  stage-drivers  and  ranchmen 
on  the  line — the  men  who  have  most  to  fear  from  war,  and 
who  of  all  others  want  peace — he  might  have  learned  in  a 
few  hours  not  only  the  actual  situation,  but  also  the  true 
way  to  meet  the  peculiar  foe  that  never  confronts  him  and 
yet  is  ever  attacking  him.  When  General  Sherman  declared 
that  "the  people  co^Jd  have  an  Indian  war  or  not,  as  they 
chose,"  not  less  than  fifty  people  had  been  butchered  within 
his  department  since  the  opening  of  spring,  and  in  not  a 
single  instance  had  the  victims  sought  to  provoke  war, 
unless  traveling  the  great  thoroughfare  to  the  West,  sup- 
posed to  be  under  his  protection,  was  an  act  of  hostility 
against  the  red  man.  I  have  been  on  the  plains  since  the 
6th  of  May,  and  I  deem  it  as  due  to  truth  to  say  that  to  the 
obstinacy  or  imbecility  of  military  management  we  are 
indebted  for  the  crimsoned  record  the  overland  route  pre- 
sents this  year.  The  government  did  Everything  that 
could  have  been  asked  in  furnishing  men,  but  to  this  day 


THE  INEFFIENCY  OF  THE  MILITARY.  \*ft 

there  has  been  no  practical  use  made  of  the  thousands  of 
troops,  now  nearly  as  long  on  the  Plains  as  Sherman 
required  to  march  against  a  powerful  and  well-commanded 
foe  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta. 

I  do  not  know  who  is  to  blame  for  the  wasteful  expendi- 
ture of  money  in  the  character  of  troops  sent  to  contend 
with  Indians.  I  believe  that  not  more  than  one-fourth  of 
the  force  west  of  the  Missouri  is  cavalry ;  while  fully  one- 
half  of  it  should  be  mounted  In  the  West.  First  of  all,  the 
troops  should  be  taken  from  the  Far  West,  as  the  people  of 
the  Territories  understand  the  Indian  character,  cherish  the 
intensest  hatred  toward  them,  and  will  fight  them  "  until 
they  can't  rest,  "to  use  a  favorite  Western  saying.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  regulars  prefer  any  other  sort  of  warfare 
to  Indian  warfare.  They  both  despise  and  fear  the  savages, 
and  fight  them  only  when  they  cannot  avoid  it.  They 
have  deserted  until  many  regiments  are  reduced  thirty  per 
cent.,  and  in  some  instances,  it  is  believed,  have  joined  the 
Indians  in  plundering  trains.  Certain  it  is  that  the  marks 
of  white  men  have  been  detected  in  a  number  of  the  raids 
made  upon  the  ranches  and  stations.  Our  American  horses, 
on  \vhich  the  cavalrymen  are  mounted,  are  utterly  unfit  for 
Indian  campaigns.  They  are  heavy,  sluggish,  and  cannot 
march  a  week  without  grain ;  while  the  Indian  pony  and 
broncho  will  travel  all  the  summer  on  prairie-grass,  and 
outstrip  even  a  well-fed  American  charger.  One  thousand 
men  from  Colorado,  Nebraska,  or  Montana,  mounted  on 
such  horses  as  they  would  select,  would  be  worth  double 
their  number  of  regular  troops  mounted  as  is  our  regular 
cavalry.  It  seems  to  me  impossible  that  these  facts,  which 
are  so  patent  to  every  Western  man,  have  not  been  pressed 
upon  the  military  authorities ;  and,  if  so,  upon  whom  does 
this  costly,  bloody  blunder  rest? 

Since  I  have  been  on  the  overland  line,  probably  not  less 
16* 


! 


178  WELLS,    FARGO   $    CO. 

than  five  hundred  horses  have  been  stolen  by  the  Indians 
from  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  who  run  the  line  and  carry  the 
Pacific  mails.  I  understand  that  for  this  mail  service  the 
Company  are  paid  some  $900,000,  and  the  government  en- 
gages to  protect  the  route.  After  the  contract  was  made,  a 
special  act  of  Congress  was  procured  prohibiting  the  trans- 
mission of  transient  newspapers,  books,  or  pamphlets,  ex- 
cept upon  payment  of  letter-postage.  A  single  copy  of  the 
"  Tribune"  cannot  be  mailed  to  any  point  west  of  Denver 
without  the  payment  of  letter-postage,  and  publishers  can- 
not mail  books  without  paying  the  same  rates.  The  express 
rate  for  such  articles  is  one  dollar  per  pound,  about  the  same 
as  letter-postage.  Congress  has  thus  practically  given  up 
to  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  a  monopoly  of  the  mails,  exclusive  of 
letters,  at  enormous  rates,  as  the  responsibility  of  a  com- 
pany of  common  carriers  gives  them  a  positive  preference 
over  the  Post-Office  Department. 

Hitherto  every  horse  taken  by  the  Indians,  and  all 
property  destroyed  on  this  line,  has  been  paid  for  by  Con- 
gress, in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  contract.  As 
I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  facts,  I  do  not  question  the 
honesty  of  the  claims  thus  made  and  paid,  but  of  the  claims 
to  be  made  for  the  losses  of  stock  this  spring,  while  I  was 
traversing  the  route,  I  feel  constrained  to  say  a  word.  As 
we  had  rumors  of  Indians  and  Indian  depredations  from  the 
first  station  at  the  western  terminus  of  the  railroad  to  Den- 
ver, three  hundred  miles,  and  also  from  Laporte  to  Green 
River  on  the  mountains,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  I  made  it  a  point  to  look  into  every  station,  and 
learn  the  actual  condition  of  affairs,  and  the  measures  taken 
to  protect  the  lives  of  the  station-keepers  and  the  stock.  Not 
one-half  of  the  "  swing-stations"  (stables  where  the  teams 
are  changed)  had  so  much  as  a  single  gun  of  any  kind,  and 
not  one-fourth  of  them  had  taken  any  measures  whatever 


THE  CARELESSNESS   OF  THE  COMPANY.        H9 

to  defend  the  stock.  At  the  ranches  owned  by  individuals, 
there  were  always  rifles  in  readiness,  often  tunnels  to  outer 
fortifications,  and  invariably  some  sort  of  defensive  lines. 
"  Old  Wicked,"  of  whom  I  wrote  in  a  former  letter,  with 
three  men  to  aid  him,  repulsed  a  regular  attack  upon  his 
ranche  made  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  savages,  and  saved 
his  goods  and  stock,  two  years  ago,  while  every  stage-sta- 
tion was  cleared  and  most  of  the  horses  stolen.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  raids  made  upon  the  Platte  stations  this 
spring  could  have  been  repulsed  by  three  well-armed  men, 
always  on  the  alert  to  prevent  a  surprise  ;  and  there  are  not 
less  than  that  number  at  a  station.  Had  the  precaution  been 
taken  by  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  (the  ordinary  diligence  and 
care  that  the  law  requires  of  every  individual),  more  than 
half  the  horses  stolen  on  the  Platte  would  have  been  pro- 
tected and  saved.  The  Indians  are  proverbial  cowards,  and 
will  never  fight  at  a  disadvantage,  however  sure  of  success, 
and  they  have  rarely  raided  the  stations  in  numbers  so 
large  that  several  well-armed  men,  protected  by  stables  or 
ranches,  could  not  have  repulsed  them.  We  read  daily  of 
their  capture  of  trains  and  the  murder  of  train-men ;  but 
they  never  attack  excepting  where  the  train  is  scattered 
and  portions  can  be  cut  off,  or  when  they  can  be  surprised 
and  the  stock  stampeded.  Such  a  thing  as  a  square,  stand- 
up  fight  for  a  train  has  not  occurred  in  all  the  Indian  depre- 
dations this  year. 

But  west  of  Denver,  where  probably  three  hundred 
horses  have  been  captured  from  the  stage-line  within  the 
last  month,  the  carelessness  of  the  Company  has  been  so 
marked  that  I  cannot  resist  the  conviction  that  it  was  delib- 
erately planned  to  have  them  captured.  Let  me  give  you  a 
simple  statement  of  facts  as  they  came  under  my  own  per- 
sonal observation.  A  company  using  thousands  of  horses 
must  necessarily  always  have  a  large  number  nearly  or  quite 


180      THE  HORSES  EXPOSED  FOR   WANT  OF  FEED. 

worn  out.  I  found  none  such  between  Platte  City  and 
Denver,  and  none  from  Denver  west  until  I  reached  the 
country  infested  by  the  Indians,  and  there  I  found  none  fit 
for  service.  From  Big  Laramie  to  Laclede,  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  miles,  where  the  Indians  were  troublesome,  there 
was  not  a  team  of  horses  fit  to  drive,  and  the  Company  took 
no  measures  whatever  to  save  them  from  capture.  In  all  the 
raids  made  upon  this  part  of  the  line — most  of  which  were 
made  while  I  was  traveling  west — there  was  not  a  single 
occupied  station  captured,  and  not  a  single  horse  stolen  that 
was  stabled.  Bear  in  mind  that,  although  early  in  June,  we 
waded  through  snow-storms  daily,  and  vegetation  was  so 
late  that  stock  could  scarcely  live  on  the  grass,  and  yet  for 
more  than  one  hundred  miles  of  this  part  of  the  line  there 
was  not  a  pound  of  grain  for  the  stock,  and  there  had 
not  been  any  for  a  month,  and  not  one  station  in  five  had 
had  hay  to  feed  for  six  weeks,  some  having  been  out  as  much 
as  two  months.  The  broken-down  horses  have  been  placed 
on  this  part  of  the  line;  there  was  no  grain  or  hay  to  feed 
them,  and  every  horse  captured,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  was 
taken  while  out  grazing  his  scanty  meal,  when  he  should 
have  been  in  the  stable  feeding  on  grain  and  hay.  I  stated 
these  facts  to  Mr.  Tracy,  the  General  Superintendent,  who 
passed  me  west  of  Fort  Bridger,  and  he  gave  as  an  excuse 
for  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  that  they  came  into  possession  of 
the  line  too  late  last  fall  to  supply  it  properly  with  forage. 
This  may  be  so,  and  is  something  in  extenuation  of  the 
total  neglect  to  have  proper  food  for  the  stock ;  but  when 
hundreds  of  horses  are  stolen  because  the  predecessor  of 
Mr.  Tracy  failed  to  do  his  duty,  does  the  government  be- 
come responsible  ?  But  the  excuse  offered  was  not  wholly 
true.  At  Cooper's  Creek  we  found,  as  a  rule,  the  end  of  grain 
and  hay  on  the  line.  But  one  hundred  miles  southeast,  at 
Laporte,  grain  and  hay  are  abundant  in  market  at  reason- 


THE  STABLES    UNDEFENDED.  181 

able  prices,  and  they  could  have  been  supplied  without 
difficulty.  At  North  Platte  there  was  but  a  single  bag  of 
grain,  and  that  belonged  to  the  station-keeper.  After  much 
bargaining,  we  got  it  for  our  two  four-horse  teams  intended 
to  take  us  through  to  Sulphur  Spring ;  and  even  with  that, 
and  a  liberal  time  for  the  horses  to  graze  at  noon,  the 
horses  in  one  of  our  teams  had  to  be  taken  out  on  the  way 
and  were  abandoned  on  the  road,  in  a  trip  of  forty-five  miles, 
with  but  six  persons  to  a  wagon.  At  Pine  Grove  and 
Bridger  Pass  stations  the  horses  had  been  stolen  the  day 
before  we  arrived,  because  they  were  out  grazing  on  grass 
insufficient  to  satisfy  their  hunger.  Bridger  Pass  station 
was  attacked  at  the  same  time,  and  successfully  defended 
by  the  men  ;  but,  as  the  stock  was  gone,  they  abandoned  it, 
as  did  the  occupants  of  Pine  Grove,  because  they  had  no- 
thing to  defend  that  was  worth  risking  their  lives  for.  At 
Sulphur  Spring  station,  where  there  were  twenty  men,  six- 
teen head  of  horses  and  mules  were  captured  the  day  I  ar- 
rived there.  The  stock  was  out  browsing  under  the  snow, 
because  of  the  want  of  grain  and  hay,  and  no  ordinary 
number  of  men  could  defend  them.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  capture  the  stable.  At  Waskie,  in  view  of  Indians  seen 
by  our  party  on  the  bluffs  as  we  left  Sulphur,  the  stock  was 
grazing  out  of  sight,  because  there  was  no  feed,  and  two 
days  after  it  was  captured.  At  Laclede  I  found  eighty- 
three  head  of  horses,  seventy-three  of  which  belonged  to 
the  Company,  and  but  a  few  herders,  and  not  a  single  gun 
to  defend  them.  Even  the  few  men  there,  without  arms, 
make  the  stable  and  building  safe ;  but  the  miserable  stock 
had  to  be  turned  out  to  hunt  up  a  scanty  subsistence  on 
the  prairies,  and  the  Indians  watched  their  opportunity  and 
bagged  sixty-five  of  them.  The  next  Congress  will  doubt- 
less be  applied  to  for  restitution  for  some  three  hundred 
good  horses  stolen  on  this  part  of  the  line,  when  in  fact  I  did 


! 


182          MR.  ITOLLIDAY  DERANGES   THE  LINE. 

not  see  a  single  good  horse,  or  more  than  a  half-priced 
horse,  on  the  two  hundred  miles  raided  by  the  Indians,  and 
not  one  was  taken  that  was  stabled  as  ordinary  care  re- 
quired. The  traveling  public  must  bear  the  inconvenience 
of  disabled  teams  in  the  mountains  ;  but  when  they  are  so 
placed  as  to  invite  the  raids  of  the  savage,  and  the  govern- 
ment expected  to  pay  the  Company  double  or  treble  value 
for  practically  handing  their  stock  over  to  the  Indians,  it 
is  cutting  it  rather  fat ! 

We  had  practical  evidence  of  Mr.  Ben  Holliday's  appre- 
ciation of  the  condition  of  things  on  the  line.  He  is  a  Di- 
rector of  the  Company,  one  of  its  largest  stockholders,  and 
was  on  his  way  East  as  I  was  journeying  West.  He  was 
about  to  start  from  Salt  Lake  as  I  started  from  North 
Platte  ;  and  as  we  dragged  our  way  through  the  Indian 
country  we  were  delayed  and  badgered  from  place  to  place, 
because  the  horses  able  to  travel  had  to  be  saved  up  to  put 
Mr.  Holliday  through.  We  found  one  team  at  a  number 
of  stations  resting  up  for  his  benefit,  while  the  crippled 
stock,  as  was  usual,  were  out  grazing  when  we  arrived  at 
the  stations,  and  we  had  to  wait  until  it  was  driven  in 
(not  a  difficult  operation),  harnessed,  and  hitched  to  the 
coach.  He  had  orders  all  along  the  line  for  resting  the 
best  horses,  and  for  an  escort  of  the  employes  from  station 
to  station,  while  he  left  the  poor  station-keepers  at  the  mercy 
of  the  savages,  three  or  four  at  a  stable,  and  often  without 
a  gun  to  defend  themselves  from  the  scalping-knife.  After 
thus  deranging  the  line  for  two  hundred  miles,  he  arrived 
at  Weber,  fifty  miles  east  of  this  city,  and  then  con- 
cluded that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor,  and 
retraced  his  steps  to  California,  to  return  by  steamer.  With 
command  of  the  entire  stock  and  employes  of  the  line,  after 
periling  the  lives  of  all  on  the  route  by  holding  the  best 
drivers  and  teams,  and  deranging  the  stock  not  given  over 


KINDNESS  OF  THE  RAILROAD  EMPLOYES.      183 

to  the  Indians  by:  systematic  neglect,  he  would  not  venture 
to  pass  over  the  thoroughfare  that  he  invites  the  public  to 
travel  daily  at  the  liberal  rate  of  twenty  cents  per  mile. 

It  is  due  to  the  employes,  and  indeed  all  the  ranchmen 
and  other  persons  on  the  line,  to  say  that  they  were 
uniformly  courteous  and  kind;  and  our  party  will  ever 
cherish  most  grateful  recollections  of  their  efforts  to  con- 
tribute to  our  comfort  and  safety.  I  cannot  recall  a  single 
instance  of  neglect  or  discourtesy  on  the  part  of  any  one 
on  the  route  from  Denver  to  this  place — a  distance  of  six 
hundred  miles.  Their  rude  shelter  and  often  scanty  stores 
were  ever  freely  given  us ;  and  they  were  tireless  in  their 
efforts  to  smooth  the  many  rough  places  of  the  journey. 


LETTER   XIX. 

A  Delightful  Journey  through  Mormondom. — How  Brigham 
"  dictates"  to  the  Faithful. — The  Bishops  and  their  Revenues. 
— How  they  assist  the  Poor. — The  Mormon  Industrial  System 
a  Success. — Ogden  City. — Bishop  "West  and  his  Eight  Wives. — 
How  a  Mormon  Bishop  luxuriates. — The  Prairie-Flowers. — 
Bear  River. — Countless  Mosquitoes  and  Gnats. — Passengers 
and  Driver  veiled. — Idaho. — Appropriate  Names  of  Stations. — 
Climbing  the  Rocky  Range  again. 

SNAKE  RIVER,  IDAHO  TERR.,  June  21,  1867. 
WE  had  a  delightful  journey  from  Salt  Lake  northward 
to  this  point.  The  weather  was  pleasant,  the  roads  good, 
the  teams  spirited,  and  the  country  beautiful.  The  tourist 
never  wearies  of  the  study  of  the  industrial  system  of  the 
Mormons.  I  doubt  whether  any  other  association  ever 
attained  such  a  degree  of  perfection  in  the  division,  gov- 
ernment, and  success  of  labor.  In  the  remotest  parts  of 
Utah  the  same  system,  industry,  and  thrift  prevail,  and, 
whether  scattered  in  settlements  or  crowded  in  cities,  the 
Mormons  are  subject  to  the  same  peculiar  laws,  and  they 
are  enforced  with  scrupulous  care.  No  Mormon  is  in  any 
sense  his  own  master,  unless  he  is  one  of  the  very  few  who 
belong  to  the  governing  class.  I  heard  Brigham  Young 
say  to  three  thousand  of  his  people,  in  a  sermon,  that  with- 
out some  one  to  "  dictate"  to  them  how  to  manage  their 
affairs,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  they  would  soon  be 
scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven ;  and  he  did  not  for- 
get to  add  that  "  we,  the  chosen  oracles  of  the  Lord," 
(184) 


BRIG II AM   "DICTATES"    TO   THE   FAITHFUL.      185 

must  "  dictate"  to  the  faithfulT  This  doctrine  he  enforces 
relentlessly.  In  Salt  Lake  City  the  Saints  dare  not  sell 
their  own  houses  without  the  consent  of  the  President, 
and  in  the  rural  settlements  the  rule  has  no  exception, 
save  when  the  iron  yoke  becomes  intolerable  and  apostasy 
is  preferred  to  submission. 

When  emigrants  are  landed  in  Utah,  they  are  brought 
to  Salt  Lake,  an  inventory  of  their  cash,  stock,  and  worldly 
goods  in  general  is  taken,  and  the  men  are  examined  as 
to  the  particular  branch  of  industry  for  which  they  are 
best  fitted.  The  church  bishop  has  a  record  of  the  con- 
dition of  every  settlement,  of  the  number  of  acres  still 
uncultivated  that  can  be  irrigated,  and  of  the  wants  of 
each  community  respecting  all  kinds  of  labor.  The  emi- 
grants are  then  directed  where  to  go  and  what  to  do.  If 
they  have  means,  they  are  instructed  how  and  where  to 
invest;  and  if  they  are  destitute,  they  are  directed  to  the 
proper  bishop  for  a  start  in  the  world.  Each  ward  in 
every  city,  and  each  settlement,  however  small,  has  a 
bishop,  whose  duty  it  is  to  "  dictate"  to  the  saints  in  all 
things,  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  especially  to  see  that 
no  one  withholds  any  part  of  his  tithings  from  the  Church. 
When  an  emigrant  reaches  the  place  to  which  he  is 
assigned,  he  reports  to  the  bishop  and  obeys  orders.  If 
destitute,  the  bishop  assigns  him  two,  five,  or  ten  acres  of 
Uncle  Sam's  land,  sells  him  a  yoke  of  cattle,  wagon,  and 
seeds,  takes  his  note,  and  puts  him  to  ditching  and  plant- 
ing. Each  year  the  new  settler  reports  his  products  to 
the  bishop,  and  they  are  disposed  of  as  he  directs.  First 
of  all,  one-tenth  is  taken  for  the  Church,  a  portion  is  allowed 
for  the  family,  another  portion  for  seed,  and  the  residue  is 
appropriated  on  account  of  the  debt  for  the  outfit,  until 
all  is  paid  with  interest.  Over  this  fund,  into  which  the 
tithing  is  gathered,  the  bishops  have  immediate  control, 

17 


186  THE  MORMON  INDUSTRIAL   SYSTEM. 

but  report  regularly  to  the  President.  They  give  to  the 
poor  when  the  necessity  is  imperative,  but  never  fail  to 
demand  restitution  if  it  can  be  recovered  even  years  after- 
ward. One  of  the  first  duties  required,  when  a  new  farm 
is  opened,  is  the  planting  of  all  kinds  of  fruits ;  and  the 
result  is  that  in  every  settlement  the  houses  are  first 
recognized  by  the  clusters  of  green  foliage  or  fragrant 
blossoms  which  surround  them. 

As  an  industrial  system  the  Mormon  Church  is  a  positive 
success,  and  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  most  em- 
bittered foes  of  this  peculiar  religious  faith.  I  did  not 
see  a  single  home  of  a  Mormon  where  there  were  signs  of 
dilapidation  or  decay.  It  is  forbidden  by  their  faith,  and 
the  bishops  see  that  no  sluggards  bring  reproach  upon  their 
religion.  For  nearly  one  hundred  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake 
City  there  are  numerous  Mormon  settlements  nestling 
between  the  Great  Lake  and  the  Wasatch  range,  and  they 
dot  the  earth  with  fruitfulness  and  beauty.  The  wild 
flowers  are  thick  on  every  side,  and  climb  over  every  home, 
however  humble.  At  one  place  I  saw  a  beautiful  hedge 
of  the  wild  rose,  carefully  trimmed,  and  blooming  in  pro- 
fusion. On  the  route  there  are  several  towns  or  cities  of 
note.  Ogden  contains  a  population  of  over  two  thousand, 
and  has  excellent  buildings,  stores,  and  gardens.  Two  of 
Bishop  West's  eight  wives  (the  second  and  eighth)  keep  the 
hotel  in  the  city  in  a  most  creditable  manner.  His  other 
six  live  on  his  farms,  at  his  mills,  etc.,  while  he  rotates 
around  generally  among  them.  He  supplies  the  faithful 
with  bitters  by  the  ^mall  at  his  bar,  manufactures  their 
grain  into  flour  and  whisky,  preaches  on  Sunday,  and  sees 
that  every  tenth  egg  the  Ogden  chickens  lay  is  properly  re- 
turned to  his  tithing-house.  Brigham  City  is  another  Mor- 
mon village,  of  over  one  thousand  inhabitants,  and  bears 
the  many  evidences  of  well-directed  industry  which  eharac- 


BEAR   RIVE  If.  187 

terize  all  the  residences  of  the  Saints.  The  strip  of  land 
between  the  Lake  and  the  Wasatch,  prairies  from  five  to 
twenty  miles  in  width,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sections 
of  Utah.  From  every  settlement  the  lake  is  visible,  and, 
while  the  prairie  and  the  fields  are  green  with  verdure 
and  variegated  with  every  hue  of  the  rose,  the  Wasatch 
and  the  Lake  Mountains  are  capped  with  snow.  Some  of 
the  mountain-islands  seem  to  be  entirely  bare  of  grass  or 
timber,  and  the  sun  gives  them  a  pale  pink  color,  which  is 
reflected  in  the  shadows  of  the  lake,  and,  with  the  deep 
lines  of  blue  which  encircle  the  island,  and  the  white 
crowns  of  the  waves,  represent  the  various  colors  of  the 
rainbow.  As  we  came  near  to  Bear  River  the  land  became 
more  sterile,  and  the  settlements  were  not  so  frequent. 
But,  even  where  the  soil  seemed  to  repel  the  settler,  the 
prairie  abounded  in  every  variety  of  wild  flowers.  The 
cactus  was  in  full  bloom,  presenting  almost  every  shade  in 
its  flower,  from  its  favorite  pale  yellow  to  the  brightest 
pink;  and  mingled  with  it  were  countless  varieties  of 
Nature's  offerings  to  beautify  the  plain,  from  the  huge 
sunflower  down  to  the  modest  little  daisy  that  shelters  its 
delicate  tints  among  the  sage  and  grass. 

Bear  River  is  the  end  of  Mormon  settlements.  It  cuts 
its  way  through  the  Wasatch  range,  leaving  almost  per- 
pendicular walls,  hundreds  of  feet  in  height,  on  each  side, 
and  has  washed  out  a  deep  bed  in  the  prairie.  It  is  quite 
a  large  stream,  and  the  most  northern  of  the  leading  tribu- 
taries of  Salt  Lake.  I  found  it  most  remarkable  for  the  size, 
quantity,  and  vigor  of  its  mosquitoes.  We  took  a  square 
meal  down  under  its  high  banks,  and  the  mosquitoes  and 
gnats  were  so  thick  that  we  could  scarcely  see  each  other 
across  the  table.  The  gnats  literally  darkened  the  windows 
in  their  persistent  efforts  to  get  inside  and  devour  us  while 
we  were  taking  tea.  I  need  not  say  that  we  broke  bread 


188  APPROPRIATE  NAMES   OF  STATIONS. 

as  briefly  as  possible  with  the  hostess  of  Bear  River,  and 
rejoiced  to  get  out  on  the  prairie  again.  But  north  of  the 
river  I  found  that  we  had  only  escaped  from  several  billions 
of  the  winged  varmints  to  meet  with  a  million  or  so ;  and 
there  was  but  little  in  favor  of  the  plains.  Fortunately,  we 
were  all  provided  with  coarse  veils — an  article  that  no 
traveler  pretends  to  dispense  with  on  the  northern  route 
— and  we  all  veiled  ourselves  closely,  including  the  driver. 
The  poor  horses  suffered  intensely,  for  the  mosquitoes  and 
gnats  literally  covered  them,  and  they  had  to  be  driven  at 
a  gallop  to  keep  them  manageable.  Twelve  miles  distant 
we  reached  Mound  Springs,  on  high  ground,  and  a  stiff, 
chilling  breeze  settled  nature's  blood-letters  for  the  night. 
Some  fifteen  miles  north  of  Bear  River  is  the  line  be- 
tween Utah  and  Idaho ;  and  thenceforth  there  are  no  more 
orchards  or  cultivated  fields.  At  Malade  City  I  saw  the 
last  field  for  five  hundred  miles.  It  is  a  settlement  of  the 
Josephites  (anti-polygamy  or  Smithite  branch  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church).  They  crossed  the  line  to  get  away  from  the 
dominion  of  the  Brighamites,  and,  but  for  the  higher  alti- 
tude and  colder  climate,  would  compare  favorably  with 
the  Brighamites  in  the  fruits  of  their  industry.  They 
have  two  settlements  in  Idaho,  one  at  Malade  City,  and 
another  at  Soda  Springs.  From  Malade  north  there  is 
nothing  that  can  ever  invite  the  settler,  unless  the  precious 
metals  should  be  discovered  in  the  bluffs  and  gulches. 
"Devil's  Creek,"  "  Robbers'  Retreat,"  "Desert  Wells," 
"  Rattlesnake,"  and  "  Stinking  Water"  are  the  euphonious 
titles  of  as  many  stations  ;  and  no  one  who  travels  the 
route  will  deny  their  appropriateness.  "  Robbers'  Retreat" 
is  memorable  as  the  place  where  the  stage  was  robbed 
some  two  years  ago,  and  seven  passengers  murdered.  It  is 
in  Port  Neuf  Canon,  one  of  the  most  repulsive,  dreary  passes 
I  found  in  the  mountain-trip  of  one  thousand  miles.  The 


SNAKE  RIVER.  189 

weather  in  the  region  between  the  northern  and  southern 
lines  of  Idaho  is  universally  described  as  consisting  of 
nine  months  of  a  hard  winter  and  three  months  of  a  very 
cold  spell.  In  the  entire  two  hundred  miles  across  Idaho 
I  saw  nothing  but  the  most  sterile  prairies,  wild  mountain- 
passes,  and  the  bleakest  of  bluffs. 

This  evening  we  reached  Snake  River  before  sunset, 
and  had  several  hours'  rest.  It  is  a  large  river,  and  at 
this  place,  known  as  Eagle  Rock,  the  main  channel  is  over 
sixty  feet  in  depth,  and  the  current  very  cwift.  It  is 
unusually  high,  and  great  fears  are  entertained  for  the 
rude  bridge  that  spans  it,  as  the  coaches  could  not  be 
ferried  over  it  at  any  point  at  this  time.  It  is  one  of  the 
main  tributaries  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  heads  at  the 
base  of  the  Rocky  range,  near  the  Montana  line,  and  has 
many  tributaries  from  the  east,  but  none  from  the  west. 
Some  seventy  miles  north  of  this  the  summit  of  the  Rocky 
range  is  reached,  and  there  the  waters  divide  between  the 
Missouri  and  the  Columbia :  the  two  great  rivers  which 
drain  the  Far  Northwest,  and  course  their  ways  respect- 
ively to  the  Pacific  and  the  Gulf,  there  have  their  sources 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  each  other. 

But  the  coach  is  about  to  start ;  and  I  must  make  my 
second  effort  to  climb  the  Rocky  range  to-night.  I  hope 
to  find  it  at  least  more  agreeable  than  was  Bridger's  Pass, 
where  I  warmed  myself  by  the  fire  of  burning  stations 
with  the  fresh  tracks  of  the  Sioux  thick  around  me  in  the 
snow. 


17* 


LETTER    XX. 

A  Night-Ride  on  the  Summit  of  the  Rocky  Range. — The  Mos- 
quitoes again.— Pleasant  Valley  Station  a  Fraud. — Parting  of  the 
"Waters  on  the  Summit  to  the  Eastern  and  Western  Seas. — The 
Source  of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  Rivers. — The  Snake  River. 
— Its  Tortuous  Course  through  the  Mountains. — The  Stinking- 
Water  River.— Virginia  City.— Its  First  Settlers.— Alder  Gulch. 
—Its  Wonderful  Yield  of  G-old.— Belt  of  Rich  Mines.— The  Pre- 
cious Metals  of  Montana. — Agricultural  Resources  of  the  Terri- 
tory.— Irregularity  of  the  Mails. — Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  Special 
Mails. — A  Premium  paid  for  Neglect  to  convey  the  Mails. — 
How  to  test  the  Safety  of  the  Overland  Route. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  June  27,  1867. 
AFTER  a  pleasant  evening  at  Snake  River,  we  crossed 
the  frail  bridge,  then  swaying  to  and  fro  before  the  violence 
of  the  current  (and  since  swept  away),  and  started  for  a 
night-ride  toward  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  range.  The 
mosquitoes  were  eminently  sociable,  and  forbade  sleep  in 
the  coach.  Our  coarse  veils  were  of  little  use  ;  for  they 
would  touch  the  face  at  some  points,  and  just  there  our 
tormentors  would  settle,  like  a  swarm  of  bees  lighting  on 
the  green,  and  present  their  inexorable  demand  for  blood. 
Even  toward  midnight,  when  it  was  so  cold  that  I  had  to 
wrap  my  thick  blanket  around  over  my  great-coat,  the  mos- 
quitoes wearied  not  in  their  efforts  to  forage  upon  us.  They 
seem  to  be  perfectly  acclimated  in  this  region,  and  defy  the 
chilling  blasts  of  the  snow-clad  mountains  hard  by.  A  s  wo 
reached  the  higher  bluffs,  a  most  welcome  breeze  greeted 
us,  and  cleared  our  path  of  the  buzzing  and  biting  pests. 
(190) 


NIGHT  ON  THE  ROCKY  RANGE  SUMMIT.        101 

Early  in  the  morning  we  reached  Pleasant  Yalley  station 
for  breakfast.  I  had  noticed  its  enticing  name  on  the  little 
guide-book,  and  had  grateful  anticipations  of  a  delightful 
mountain-home,  but  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  Of 
all  the  filthy,  repulsive  stations  on  the  route,  Pleasant  Val- 
ley is  the  worst.  It  consists  of  a  narrow  gulch  between 
two  high  bluifs,  and  we  could  not  get  out  of  the  coach  into 
the  station  without  plunging  into  mud  ankle-deep.  It  fur- 
nishes us  one  of  the  regular  "square  meals"  of  the  most 
primitive  life  in  this  primitive  land.  A  miserable  apology 
for  coffee,  no  butter  or  milk,  stale  eggs  and  bacon,  and 
bread  almost  as  gritty  as  the  mountain  boulders,  constituted 
our  breakfast.  I  need  not  say  that  we  partook  most  spar- 
ingly, paid  our  two  dollars  each,  and  waded  out  as  speedily 
as  possible.  Let  me  say,  however,  for  the  "  home-stations," 
that,  in  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  staging  on  the  plains  and 
through  the  mountains,  I  can  recall  but  two  meals  that 
were  not  inviting,  and,  upon  the  whole,  no  better  fare  would 
be  found  traveling  in  the  States. 

Nine  miles  from  Pleasant  Valley  we  reached  the  summit, 
the  dividing  line  between  Idaho  and  Montana,  and  the 
grand  divide  of  the  great  waters  of  the  Northwest.  Just 
on  the  summit  numerous  little  springs  start,  and  soon  unite, 
to  form  Red  Butte  Creek,  the  southernmost  source  of  the 
Father  of  Waters.  Black  Tail  Deer  and  Stinking  Water 
rising  farther  east  on  the  range,  and  Horse  Plain  and  Big 
Hole  on  the  west,  form  Jefferson  River,  the  main  source  of 
the  Missouri ;  while,  still  farther  east,  the  Madison  and 
Gallatin  rise  in  the  mountains,  drain  and  irrigate  fruitful 
valleys,  and  unite  at  Gallatin  City,  some  sixty  miles  north 
of  this  place,  to  form  the  Missouri.  The  Snake  River 
courses  southwest  from  the  summit  until  it  reaches  close 
to  the  southern  line  of  Idaho,  when  it  describes  a  semi- 
circle northward,  thence  runs  nearlv  due  north  to  Lewis- 


192  VIRGINIA    CITY. 

town,  on  the  Idaho  and  Washington  line,  within  one  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  British  boundary,  when  it  sweeps  around 
southwest  again,  and  unites  with  the  Columbia  at  Walla- 
Walla.  It  is  to  the  Columbia  what  the  Missouri  is  to  the 
Mississippi — a  tributary  greater  than  the  river  that  re- 
ceives its  waters  and  ends  its  history  and  name.  It  drains 
Idaho,  and  all  of  Oregon  west  of  the  Cascade  range,  and 
a  large  portion  of  Washington.  I  have  no  data  before  me 
to  make  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  distance  this  remark- 
able stream  traverses  in  reaching  the  ocean,  but  it  must  be 
fully  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  its  tortuous  windings  to  find 
a  water-grade  from  the  top  of  the  Rocky  range  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  I  crossed  it  at  Eagle  Rock,  not  one  hundred 
miles  from  its  source,  and  there  it  was  over  sixty  feet  deep 
in  the  main  channel,  and  nearly  one  hundred  yards  from 
shore  to  shore.  Like  the  Platte  and  the  Green,  however, 
it  will  ever  defy  the  navigators,  lending  no  assistance  to 
the  march  of  commerce. 

From  the  summit,  the  overland  line  traverses  the  same 
bleak,  sterile,  and  broken  country  we  left  on  the  other  side, 
in  Idaho,  and  no  sign  of  cultivation  is  visible  until  Vir- 
ginia City  is  reached,  and  here  there  is  no  pretense  of  rear- 
ing more  than  sickly  flowers  and  some  vegetables  in  the 
gardens.  Some  distance  from  the  city  we  struck  the  head- 
waters of  Stinking  River,  and  followed  it  for  some  miles. 
It  gained  its  repulsive  title  from  the  fact  that  it  was  once 
the  favorite  deposit  for  the  Indian  dead.  Instead  of  burying 
their  deceased  comrades  in  the  earth,  they  wrapped  them 
in  their  blankets  and  robes,  and  gave  them  sepulchres  in 
the  forks  of  trees  or  on  elevated  poles,  causing,  as  the 
miners  say,  the  most  "  flagrant  fragrance."  The  stream 
has  a  rapid  descent,  and  is  admirably  located  for  irrigation, 
but  it  has  no  valley  of  sufficient  width  to  be  productive. 

Virginia  City,  the  capital  of  the  Territory,  was  founded 


THE  SNAKE  RIVER.  193 

in  1863,  and  was  originally  called  Varina,  in  honor  of  the 
wife  of  Jefferson  Davis.  The  first  settlers  were  mainly 
rebels,  and  to  this  day  they  have  maintained  their  suprem- 
acy in  this  portion  of  Montana.  Alder  Gulch,  of  which 
Virginia  was  originally  but  the  mining  camp,  was  the 
richest  gulch  of  the  size  ever  found  in  any  of  our  gold  re- 
gions. It  first  built  up  a  considerable  mining  town  a  mile 
below  Virginia,  called  Nevada ;  but  it  has  gone  into  dilapi- 
dation, and  is  practically  abandoned.  Out  of  this  gulch 
millions  of  gold  have  been  taken.  For  ten  miles  it  has  been 
worked,  some  places  as  much  as  five  hundred  yards  in 
width,  and  at  its  head  are  now  found  the  richest  quartz 
leads.  Although  every  bushel  of  earth  in  the  gulch  has 
already  been  panned,  still,  it  is  lined  with  miners,  who  are 
now  bringing  the  more  improved  systems  to  work  it  over 
again  profitably.  Ditches  have  been  brought  from  lakes 
ten  miles  distant,  and  the  hydraulic  process  is  at  present 
washing  down  the  hard  banks  and  sluicing  the  once- 
worked  earth.  A  number  of  quartz-mills  have  already  been 
erected  on  the  leads  at  the  head  of  this  gulch,  and,  when 
brought  down  to  proper  management  and  legitimate  enter- 
prise, must  make  immense  returns  to  mill-owners.  It  is 
admitted,  t  believe,  that  no  better-denned  or  richer  leads 
are  to  be  found  on  the  continent  than  in  the  summit  dis- 
trict. Imperfect  machinery,  worse  direction,  and  impatient, 
ill-advised,  and  wasteful  efforts  at  development  have  made 
failures  on  mines  where  practical  men  would  gather  for- 
tunes. 

This  whole  belt,  or  rather  the  entire  mass  of  broken  and 
confused  ranges,  seems  to  be  studded  with  the  precious 
metals.  Helena  has  taken  a  sudden  start,  and  now  dis- 
tances this  city  in  population  and  enterprise.  Most  pro- 
ductive gulches  are  being  worked  there,  and  very  rich  gold 
and  silver  mines  have  been  developed  and  tested  by  mills. 


194         THE  PRECIOUS  METALS   OF  MONTANA. 

Argenta,  forty  miles  distant,  has  silver  mines  which  yield 
from  $100  to  $400  per  ton,  and  the  lead,  or  litharge,  is 
worth  $250  per  ton  at  the  furnace.  The  litharge  is  eighty 
per  cent,  pure  lead,  and  lead  is  now  worth  thirty  cents  per 
pound  wholesale.  It  will  in  a  short  time  become  cheaper, 
and  supplant  wood  for  roofing.  I  learn  that  one  company 
will  shortly  turn  out  sheet-lead  for  that  purpose.  Deer 
Lodge,  west  from  here  of  a  high  mountain  range,  has  also 
developed  very  valuable  gold  and  silver  mines,  and  rich 
gulches  are  being  worked  there ;  and  Edgerton  and  Jeffer- 
son, directly  north  of  this,  are  yielding  largely  of  both 
silver  and  gold.  As  yet,  the  Montana  miners  have  not  had 
to  contend  with  the  base  metals,  as  in  Colorado ;  but,  as 
they  descend  in  their  mines,  they  will  meet  with  them 
more  or  less.  Their  leads  are  yet  in  the  infancy  of  de- 
velopment, and  at  no  point  that  I  have  been  able  to  hear 
from  have  they  reached  a  depth  sufficient  to  prove  the 
measure  of  richness  of  the  Montana  gold  leads.  While  in 
California  they  must  sink  down  a  considerable  depth  to 
get  paying  ore,  here  they  work  ere  from  the  grass-roots 
at  a  profit,  with  labor  and  all  expenses  thrice  as  high. 
Laborers  command  $5  per  day ;  miners,  engineers,  etc., 
from  $6  to  $8 ;  and  most  of  the  ore  is  raised  by  shafts,  to 
hasten  operations,  instead  of  tunneling  and  waiting  until 
proper  systematic  development  is  attained.  I  have  seen 
ore  worked  profitably  that  costs  $25  per  ton  to  deliver  it 
from  the  mines,  while  in  California  the  same  ore  would  be 
delivered  at  about  $3.  The  hills  in  which  the  valuable 
leads  are  found  are  singularly  adapted  to  the  cheap  deliv- 
ery of  ore  by.  tunnels.  Most  of  the  mines  I  have  seen  could 
be  reached  by  tunnels  of  a  few  hundred  feet,  and  then  be 
struck  at  a  great  depth  from  the  surface.  In  a  few  yrars 
the  mines  will  be  worked  as  they  should  be.  Speculative 
companies  will  die  out  in  bankruptcy,  and  practical  men 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  MONTANA.  195 

will  make  the  mountains  yield  fabulous  quantities  of  gold 
and  silver. 

When  it  is  considered  that  these  mines  have  not  been 
known  more  than  four  years,  that  they  have  been  almost 
inaccessible  for  machinery  until  one  year  ago,  and  then 
only  by  the  perilous  overland  route  or  the  almost  equally 
perilous  waters  of  the  Missouri,  it  is  wonderful  indeed 
that  human  energy  could  have  accomplished  what  it  has  ac- 
complished here.  It  is  not  strange  that  its  quartz  mining  is 
most  imperfect  in  both  machinery  and  management,  and 
thereby  rendered  comparatively  unproductive.  Notwith- 
standing all  these  obstacles,  Montana  is  second  only  to 
California  in  her  yield  of  gold,  and  will  this  year  go  up 
to  fully  twenty  millions  of  treasure,  with  a  gradual  in- 
crease from  year  to  year,  as  legitimate  enterprise  is  dis- 
played in  her  mines  of  almost  boundless  extent  and  bewil- 
dering wealth.  I  doubt  whether  any  part  of  the  world 
will  yield  such  large  returns  on  the  same  capital  and  labor 
as  will  Montana,  in  time.  Just  now  the  best  scientific 
talent  is  directed  to  the  mastery  of  our  Rocky  Mountain 
ores ;  each  year  will  simplify  and  cheapen  their  reduction ; 
capital  and  energy  will  come  armed  with  the  improvements 
science  may  offer,  and  make  Montana,  now  with  but  four 
years  of  history,  the  great  centre  of  the  production  of  the 
precious  metals  on  this  continent.  It  has  the  experience 
of  the  older  mining  Territories  to  profit  by,  and  its  almost 
impassable  mountains  have  been  a  wall  of  protection 
against  mad  speculation  and  the  waste  of  millions  to  par- 
ti 1  y/e  legitimate  corporations.  Colorado  is  cursed  by  specu- 
lative corporations,  which  have  not  vitality  enough  to  live 
and  not  sense  enouirh  to  die,  and  they  sit  in  idleness  and 
bankruptcy  upon  valuable  mines;  but  .Montana  is  open  to 
practical  business  enterprise,  and  will  well  repay  those 
who  thus  come  to  develop  her  surpassing  riclme». 


196  AGRICULTURAL  RESOURCES. 

In  addition  to  the  vast  mineral  wealth  of  Montana,  the 
production  of  breadstuffs  is  now  quite  equal  to  the  con- 
sumption. Wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye,  and  most  vegetables, 
are  raised  here  in  the  valleys  in  wonderful  perfection.  It 
will  startle  Eastern  farmers  to  read  that  wheat-fields  in 
Montana  have  produced  eighty  bushels  to  the  acre ;  but  it 
is  certainly  true.  Corn  cannot  be  grown  here,  as  the  season 
is  too  short.  Cattle  graze  out  all  the  winter  in  the  valleys, 
and  usually  keep  in  excellent  order.  Last  winter,  how- 
ever, many  were  lost  from  the  uncommon  severity  of  the 
weather;  but  during  any  ordinary  winter  the  cattle  will 
sustain  themselves  comfortably  on  the  grass.  Even  as  far 
north  as  Fort  Benton  they  graze  their  stock  all  the  year. 
The  finest  agricultural  portion  of  the  Territory  is  still  un- 
inhabited, save  by  the  savages.  The  Yellowstone  region 
has  the  most  salubrious  climate  north  of  the  Platte ;  and 
it  must  soon  be  surrendered  by  the  red  man,  and  blossom 
with  beauty  and  plenty  to  reward  the  husbandman. 

The  irregularity  of  the  mails  to  this  Territory  is  ter- 
rible. Of  the  "  Tribune,"  thirty  copies  of  the  daily  are 
now  due  me  here,  and  I  have  received  but  two.  Of  the 
"  Times,"  sent  me  semi-weekly  since  the  1st  of  May,  I  have 
received  but  one  number.  Letters  or  papers  mailed  in 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  mail-bags  come  promptly.  At  Salt 
Lake  I  received  papers  and  letters  through  that  channel 
before  the  same  dates  had  reached  Denver  by  mail.  The 
government  pays  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  $1,000,000  or  so  to 
carry  the  mails ;  but  they  lose  so  much  mail-matter  that 
business  men  are  glad  to  pay  them  treble  postage,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  government  postage,  to  insure  prompt  trans- 
mission of  papers  and  letters.  They  carry  more  than 
half  the  letters  from  Salt  Lake  to  California  in  their  special 
mails,  and  have  government  envelopes,  with  Wells,  Fargo 
&  Co.'s  stamp  on,  which  are  bought  and  used  to  guard 


ci 


NEGLECT  TO    CONVEY  THE  MAILS.  107 

against  the  loss  or  delay  of  mail-matter.  While  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.  are  permitted  to  have  special  mails,  carried 
at  a  large  extra  profit,  they  have  every  inducement  to 
confuse,  delay,  and  lose  the  regular  mails,  so  as  to  com- 
pel correspondents  to  pay  them,  in  addition  to  their  gov- 
ernment compensation,  twice  or  thrice  established  postal 
rates;  and  they  have  not  been  slow  to  avail  themselves 
of  this  advantage.  If  they  can  carry  letters  and  papers 
through  in  regular  time  in  their  own  special  mails,  why 
cannot  they  bring  the  regular  mails  through  in  the  same 
time?  They  have  contracted  to  deliver  them  promptly, 
and,  save  when  stopped  by  a  public  enemy,  their  failure  to 
do  so  must  be  the  result  of  carelessness  or  a  want  of  the 
necessary  coach-room  and  teams,  all  of  which  they  have 
obligated  themselves  to  furnish.  I  found  at  different  sta- 
tions on  the  way  tons  of  mails  piled  up  ;  and  sometimes 
mail-bags  are  scattered  along  the  road,  apparently  dropped 
off  and  carelessly  abandoned.  If  Congress  would  have 
the  Far  West  supplied  promptly  with  mails,  for  which  an 
ample  sum  is  paid  now,  the  right  to  compete  with  the 
mails  must  be  taken  from  the  Company,  and  the  contract 
enforced  rigidly.  But  one  coach  has  been  captured  by  the 
Indians  on  the  plains  this  spring,  and  yet  tons  of  mail- 
matter  have  been  lost.  Where  is  it?  Will  the  govern- 
ment make  the  inquiry  in  earnest? 

I  have,  as  yet,  no  means  of  knowing  the  condition  of 
things  on  the  mountain-line  between  Denver  and  Salt 
Lake  ;  but  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  to  the  military  and  stage 
authorities  that  they  test  the  safety  of  the  route  before 
they  expose  travelers  hereafter,  as  heretofore.  Let  Mr. 
n  Holliday,  for  instance,  take  passage  in  a  coach  at  Jules- 
rg,  or  Junction,  for  Salt  Lake,  with  Lieutenant-Gcneral 
Sherman  as  escort.  Let  them  have  the  best  of  horses  for 
along  the  line,  and  invite  visits  from  the  "friend- 


198  SAFETY  OF  THE   OVERLAND   ROUTE. 

lies"  by  turning  the  advance  teams  out  to  graze,  so  that 
Sherman,  Holliday  &  Co.  may  exercise  themselves,  as  I 
did,  in  helping  to  catch  their  teams  at  the  stations.  They 
would  doubtless  need  some  hair  restoratives  before  they 
got  through ;  but,  as  it  is  their  business  to  protect  and 
carry  passengers,  it  would  be  equally  their  business  if 
they  should  part  with  any  of  their  hair.  The  route  once 
thus  traveled  and  officially  reported  upon  could  thereafter 
be  held  out  to  the  public  as  a  thoroughfare  meriting 
patronage.  Until  then,  passengers  who  do  not  prefer  to 
be  scalped  had  better  stay  at  home,  or  select  some  other 
route. 


LETTER    XXI. 

Keluctant  Parting  with  the  Mormons. — The  Beauty  of  Mormon 
Homes  — They  labor  for  Beauty  and  Plenty. — The  Ogden 
Bishop  again. — The  Sterile  Waste  across  Idaho. — The  Mosqui- 
toes and  Gnats. — The  Station-Men  and  their  Pets. — A  New  and 
Novel  Apartment. — Mice  in  the  Place  of  Cats  and  Dogs. — A 
"Square  Meal"  at  Pleasant  Valley. — A  Good  Supper  and  Grate- 
ful Rest  at  Black  Tail  Deer.— The  Last  Fifty  Miles.— Sleeping 
in  the  Coach.— The  Welcome  Moon.— The  God  of  Day  gilding 
the  Rocky  Domes. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  June  28,  1867. 

WITH  all  their  faults,  I  left  the  land  of  the  Saints  reluc- 
tantly. We  had  pleasant  quarters  at  the  Revere  House — 
the  best  hotel  west  of  Chicago,  and  kept  by  a  gentile  who 
seems  to  have  no  fear  of  the  Mormons  before  his  eyes — and 
the  heartsome  shades,  fresh  vegetables,  delicious  straw- 
berries, together  with  the  thousand  novelties  to  be  seen, 
all  conspired  to  make  the  visit  a  delightful  one.  The  Mor- 
mon theatre  is  one  of  the  best  structures  inside  that  is  de- 
voted to  public  amusements  in  the  Union.  It  is  quite  large, 
most  tastefully  finished,  has  three  galleries  besides  a  large 
parquette  (where  only  the  Saints  are  admitted  excepting 
by  special  permission),  an  excellent  orchestra,  and  the 
acting  was  above  the  average,  although  almost  entirely  by 
amateurs.  The  Mormon  services  at  the  tabernacle  on  Sun- 
day are  also  decidedly  amusing,  and  partake  largely  of 
comedy.  Some  of  Brigham's  best  profanity  repeatedly 
brought  down  the  house,"  and  his  sallies  of  wit  and 
rcasm  often  made  the  vast  building  echo  with  the  merry 

(199) 


200  THE  BEAUTY  OF  MORMON  HOMES. 

peals  of  laughter  which  followed.^sjn  short,  Salt  Lake  City 
is  a  jolly  place  for  the  tourist,  and  as  it  is  always  reached 
after  a  tedious  journey  over  the  bleak  ranges  and  often 
sterile  plains  of  the  mountains,  its  pleasant  features  are  the 
more  keenly  appreciated.  But  more  than  ten  days  could 
not  be  spared  to  enjoy  the  good  things  and  curiosities  of 
the  Saints,  and  on  the  19th  I  had  to  bid  farewell  to  Brigham 
and  his  harem  and  the  enticing  shades,  sweet  fruits,  and 
rippling  streams  of  the  City  of  the  Saints.  But,  although 
taking  leave  of  the  great  centre  of  Mormondom,  we  did  not 
get  away  from  Mormon  thrift  and  beauty  for  nearly  one 
hundred  miles  on  our  northward  trip  toward  the  mountains. 
A  little  valley  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Wasatch  range 
and  on  the  West  by  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  ranging  in  width 
from  five  to  twenty-five  miles,  is  thickly  dotted  with  Mor- 
mon settlements,  and  has  several  cities  of  from  one  thou- 
sand to  two  thousand  population.  The  homes  of  the  Saints 
all  along  the  route  have  the  same  peculiarities  which  mark 
their  residences  in  their  chief  city.  Every  house  is  in  a 
cluster  of  fruit-trees,  and  every  garden  is  green  and  beau- 
tiful with  fruits  and  flowers.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  part 
of  their  religion  to  beautify  every  home,  however  humble, 
and  in  no  single  instance  did  I  see  the  signs  of  dilapidation 
about  their  little  farms.  Their  farms  are  assigned  to  them 
by  the  bishop  of  the  settlement,  and  all  of  them  are  quite 
small — ranging  from  two  to  twenty  acres,  as  the  new 
farmer  may  be  able  to  cultivate  it  well.  Let  no  one  sup- 
pose that  because  the  homes  and  gardens  and  fields  of  the 
Mormons  are  ever  beautiful  and  fruitful  they  are  easily 
made  so.  In  no  part  of  the  entire  Union,  where  agricul- 
ture is  the  main  dependence  of  the  settlers,  must  the  farmer 
toil  so  long  and  so  untiringly  to  make  the  earth  produce. 
Naturally  it  is  sterile,  and  boasts  of  only  the  sage  and 
grease-wood  as  its  products.  It  has  to  be  cleared,  broken 


THE   OGDEN  BISHOP  AGAIN.  201 

up  by  powerful  teams,  and  even  then  denies  a  harvest  to  the 
sower  unless  he  is  prepared  to  supply  it  with  artificial  rains 
during  the  entire  summer  season.  He  must  have  a  main 
ditch  for  every  patch,  level  the  inequalities  of  the  surface, 
so  that  water  will  flow  over  it  regularly,  and  then  have 
numerous  small  ditches  to  carry  moisture  to  every  tree  or 
plant  he  aims  to  grow.  None  but  Mormons,  most  of  whom 
were  the  slaves  in  the  Old  World  who  labored  for  the 
titled  classes,  could  have  made  the  Salt  Lake  Valley  thus 
cast  off  its  natural  sterility  and  clothe  itself  in  the  rich  ver- 
dure of  plenty. 

At  Ogden,  a  beautiful  Mormon  town  of  two  thousand 
people,  we  stopped  for  dinner,  and  were  well  entertained  in 
a  large  modern  hotel,  presided  over  by  two  wives  (second 
and  eighth)  of  Bishop  West,  and  surrounded  by  a  garden 
blooming  with  flowers  and  most  luxuriant  in  its  growth  of 
vegetables.  One  of  the  eight  wives  waited  on  the  table, 
and  the  other  did  the  honors  in  the  parlor,  proving  herself 
as  agreeable  in  her  part  as  the  other  was  expert  in  the 
culinary  art.  The  master  .of  the  harem  was  not  visible, 
and  probably  dined  with  some  one  of  the  other  six  of  his 
fair  partners.  In  addition  to  retailing  whisky  to  the  faith- 
ful, it  is  his  business  to  gather  the  tithing  for  that  rich 
settlement ;  and  he  seems  not  to  lose  in  worldly  goods  in 
the  performance  of  his  office.  He  owns  valuable  mills 
and  farms  in  and  about  the  city,  maintains  eight  families, 
and  gradually  increases  in  his  basket  and  store,  as  well 
as  in  his  already  numerous  progeny ;  and  all  this  is  done 
in  the  name  of  religion ;  and  the  deluded  followers  of 
Brigham  Young  and  his  apostles  sweat  and  toil  from 
day  to  day  and  year  to  year,  and  live  often  in  poverty,  to 
enable  them  to  deliver  their  tenth  dozen  of  eggs,  quart  of 
strawberries,  ton  of  hay,  bushel  of  grain,  and  every  tenth 
)f  the  increase  of  their  herds,  to  maintain  the  leaders  of  the 

18* 


202          THE  STERILE    WASTE  ACROSS  IDAHO. 

Church  in  their  licentious  debauchery.  They  seem  to  like 
it,  however,  and  if  they  don't  complain,  I  presume  that  I 
should  not ;  but  I  can't  help  thinking  that  most  of  the 
humble  members  of  the  Saints,  who  are  but  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  dignitaries,  come  under 
Brigham  Young's  class  of  "  poor  devils."  In  his  sermon 
that  I  heard,  he  divided  the  world  into  three  classes,  viz.: 
God's  poor,  the  devil's  poor,  and  poor  devils  ;  and  in  the 
last  class  I  would  place  two-thirds  of  his  infatuated  serfs, 
who  toil  and  sow  and  reap  while  he  and  his  favorites 
enjoy  the  fruits. 

But  enough  of  the  Mormons  for  this  journey.  I  must 
leave  them  and  their  fairest  valley  of  the  West,  to  trace  a 
journey  over  the  Rocky  range  again.  The  Rocky  Mount- 
ains form  nearly  a  semicircle  from  the  western  part  of 
Montana  to  the  heart  of  Colorado,  and  in  an  overland 
journey  to  this  place  the  main  range  has  to  be  crossed 
twice — once  into  Salt  Lake,  and  again  northward  into  Mon- 
tana. After  leaving  the  Mormons  near  Bear  River  there  are 
no  signs  of  agriculture  until  the  valleys  in  this  Territory 
are  reached.  All  is  a  dreary,  cold,  sterile  waste,  with  broken 
and  generally  abrupt  mountain-bluffs,  deep  canons  still 
visited  by  snow-storms,  or  open  plains  which  seem  as  if 
shrouded  in  perpetual  winter.  The  snow  passes  off  the 
plains  ;  but  no  flowers  or  fruits  can  withstand  tfce  fearful 
blasts  which  sweep  over  them,  and  nothing  but  a  sickly, 
frost-stricken  coat  of  grass  keeps  up  the  semblance  of  vej 
tation.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  region  is  the  re- 
nowned home  of  the  mosquitoes ;  and  they  descend  upon  the 
luckless  traveler  in  myriads,  with  a  pluck  that  is  truly  ap- 
palling. They  seem  to  an  Eastern  tourist  more  like  some 
fiends  of  the  feathered  tribe  than  like  insects.  It  would 
require  half  a  dozen  of  our  Eastern  mosquitoes  to  make  an 
average  one  in  the  Bear  River  region,  and  their  songs  are 


THE  STATION-MEN  AND    THEIR   PETS.  203 

more  like  the  music  of  a  brass  band,  bass  drum  included,  than 
the  modest  strains  of  the  insect  tribe.    We  all  wore  veils,  as 
travelers  must  in  that  region ;  but  some  of  them  seemed  to 
have  bills  equal  to  pipe-stems,  and  could  penetrate  anything 
but  a  regular  iron-clad.     Even  when  we  were  almost  frozen 
in  the  coach,  the  winged  devils  were  active  as  ever;  and 
only  when  we  attained  high  ground  and  a  friendly  breeze 
came  to  our  aid,  did  we  escape  these  merciless  tormentors. 
The  country  from  Bear  River  to  the  summit  presents 
nothing  novel.     All  is  a  perpetual  waste,  without  anything 
to  vary  the  monotony  of  a  tedious  journey  but  the  new  faces 
to  be  greeted  at  the  stations,  and  their  inevitable  pets.    Un- 
til within  fifty  miles  of  Virginia  City,  I  did  not  find  a  sta- 
tion where  puss  did  not  answer  to  a  call  for  her  arid  come 
out  in  the  most  friendly  manner  to  receive  the  caresses  of 
the  strangers.     One  huge  cat  welcomed  me  at  one  of  the 
stable-doors,  cheerfully  accepted  my  introduction,  and  es- 
corted me  to  the  coach  again,  purring  gayly  and  rubbing 
her  head  against  my  leg,  until  I  got  into  the  stage,  when 
she  mewed  me  a  kind  farewell  and  walked  off  majestically 
to  her  stall.     At  some  of  the  stations  I  found  a  variety  of 
pets.     Dogs  are  common,  and  always  welcome  the  passen- 
gers with  every  manifestation  of  delight.     Occasionally 
chickens  and  pigeons  are  added  to  the  family  of  pets,  and 
at  one  stable  I  met  with  a  brace  of  solemn  owls,  who  ven- 
tured upon  a  friendly  wink  when  I  patted  them,  but  main- 
tained their  proverbial  stoicism  in  all  other  respects.  They, 
with  a  dog,  a  cat,  and  a  half-score  of  pigeons,  make  up  the 
happy  family  of  the  stable-man,  and  they  share  his  room, 
divide  his  frugal  meals,  and  most  of  them  claim  a  portion 
of  his  bed.     At  one  station  I  missed  the  cat,  and  inquired 
of  the  stable-man  why  he  was  so  singular  as  to  be  without 
his  feline  companion.     "  I've   more   and  jollier  pets  than 
she  be,"  was  the  reply;  and  he  took  me  into  his  little  cor- 


204  BREAKFAST  AT  PLEASANT   VALLEY. 

ner  partitioned  off  from  the  horses  for  a  kitchen  and  cham- 
ber, and  pointed  me  to  a  score  of  mice,  rollicking  in  his 
dishes,  over  his  bed,  playing  hide-and-seek  in  his  clothes, 
and  industriously  trying  to  force  a  passage  into  his  sugar- 
can.  At  the  sound  of  his  voice  they  gathered  around  him, 
scampered  up  the  legs  of  his  pants,  prospected  his  ears, 
hair,  and  pockets,  and  turned  upon  me  their  sauciest 
glances.  "  That's  not  half  of  'em,"  he  said,  as  he  turned 
to  the  first  stall,  where  his  bacon  and  other  stores  were 
deposited.  And,  true  enough,  there  were  scores  of  them, 
enjoying  his  provisions  and  ready  to  welcome  him  as  their 
benefactor  and  friend.  It  was  not  hard  to  understand  why 
that  stable-man  has  no  cat  or  dog. 

We  took  our  last  square  breakfast  at  Pleasant  Yalley 
station,  for  which  we  each  paid  two  dollars,  and  threw  the 
victuals  in.  It  was  the  only  meal  I  attempted  on  the  en- 
tire route  that  was  utterly  unmanageable.  Some  were 
evidently  filthy,  but  they  were  made  to  look  passable  on 
the  table,  and,  with  a  little  forgetfulness,  enough  could  be 
worried  down  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  hunger.  But  the 
Pleasant  Yalley  breakfast  was  a  "dead  beat"  on  all  of  us. 
The  coffee  was  nothing  but  water  made  bitter  by  some 
nauseous  ingredient,  the  fat  bacon  was  stale,  the  eggs 
rather  worse  than  stale,  the  butter  worse  than  the  eggs,  the 
bread  worse  than  the  butter,  and  the  potatoes  were  fried 
in  the  fat  of  the  bacon.  It  would  have  required  a  first- 
class  quartz-mill  to  masticate  the  bread ;  and  nothing  more 
dainty  than  a  buzzard  could  have  eaten  the  other  articles. 
The  cook  was  an  Irishman,  who  was  filthy  enough  himself 
to  sell  as  real  estate.  We  all  politely  paid  our  money,  and 
hastened  away  to  escape  the  fragrance  of  our  meal.  Our 
last  meal  on  the  stage-route  was  at  Black  Tail  Deer  station; 
and  it  presented  a  most  delightful  contrast  with  Pleasant 
Yalley.  We  were  then  within  fifty  miles  of  the  end  of  our 


THE  LAST  FIFTY  MILES.  205 

long1  journey;  and,  as  we  found  a  clean,  bountiful,  and  well- 
prepared  meal,  and  a  pleasant  landlady,  the  driver  acceded 
to  my  request  and  gave  us  two  hours  to  rest.  The  people 
of  the  East,  who  think  a  day's  travel  on  a  railroad-car  a 
great  task,  have  no  appreciation  of  a  few  hours'  rest  at  a 
clean  station  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  after  three  days  and 
nights  of  continuous  staging.  The  softest  and  most  grate- 
ful bed  I  have  ever  tried  was  the  bunk  of  a  stage-driver 
in  a  tidy  adobe  cabin  after  having  been  cramped  up  in  a 
coach  for  several  days.  It  was  the  greatest  luxury  to  find 
a  place  to  stretch  my  limbs  and  steal  a  few  minutes  of 
quiet  sleep.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  scarcely  got  my 
head  on  the  blanket  pillow  until  the  driver  shook  me  and 
informed  me  that  the  time  I  had  asked  for  was  up,  and  the 
coach  at  the  door. 

We  were  soon  aboard  again,  and  started  on  our  last 
drive — to  me  the  longest  fifty  miles  of  the  whole  trip. 
I  could  not  at  any  time  sleep  in  the  coach.  Occasionally, 
the  second  or  third  night,  weary  nature  would  give  way, 
and  I  would  fall  into  fitful  dozes,  but  soon  to  be  startled 
out  of  them  by  an  imaginary  upset,  an  Indian  attack,  or 
some  other  horrible  spectre  of  troubled  sleep.  As  we 
started,  the  clear  starlight  was  dimmed  in  the  east,  and 
rays  of  the  mellowest  tints  threw  their  soft  lustre  above 
the  mountain-tops.  The  moon  was  struggling  to  brighten 
our  dreary  path,  and  gradually  she  climbed  the  Rocky 
range,  five  miles  above  the  Eastern  Sea,  on  which  her 
meridian  brilliancy  was  then  lavished,  and  reflected  her 
welcome  crown,  in  matchless  splendor,  from  the  peaks  of 
eternal  snows  which  stood  in  her  course.  In  my  far-off 
home  she  had  greeted  old  friends  three  hours  before;  had 
heard  love's  tender  story  from  smitten  swains ;  had  wit- 
nessed reluctant  partings  as  midnight  stole  unconsciously 
upon  them ;  and  across  the  deep-blue  ocean  she  was  gild- 


206  ARRIVAL   AT   VIRGINIA    CITY. 

ing  the  starry  vaulted  dome  above  as  she  fled  from  ap- 
proaching day  to  bless  the  night  of  the  Western  World. 
Faster  and  faster  her  lines  of  light  and  beauty  spread,  the 
shadows  receded  from  the  mountain-sides,  and  soon  her 
full  effulgence  flung  its  grandeur  over  the  dreamy  stillness 
of  the  towering  cliffs  or  sullen  plains.  She  brought  mute 
but  swift  messages  from  home, — from  distant  but  unforgot- 
ten,  and  I  trust  unforgetful,  friends  ;  had  just  brightened 
their  evening  strolls,  inspired  their  social  minglings,  and 
then  hurried  off  to  proclaim  from  sea  to  sea,  to  Christian 
and  heathen,  the  omnipotent  power  of  Him  who  fixes  the 
stars  in  their  spheres  and  notes  the  falling  of  the  sparrow. 
In  a  few  hours  the  east  was  again  lit  up,  as  the  god  of 
Day  was  coming  to  obey  the  immutable  laws  of  Heaven. 
Gently  he  lifted  up  the  silvered  shadows  of  night  and 
rolled  them  back  to  the  far,  far  west ;  and,  as  he  wove  his 
golden  lining  about  the  frosted  rocky  domes,  one  of  the 
loveliest  of  mornings  witnessed  the  end  of  my  long  and 
eventful  journey,  at  Virginia  City 


LETTER  XXII, 

Union  City. — Its  Architecture  and  Population. — Its  Sobriety. — 
The  Single  Monument  of  its  Mortality. — The  Bluebird  and 
Kobin. — The  Natal  Day  of  the  Republic. — How  it  was  not  cel- 
ebrated.— The  "Western  People. — Their  Cordial  Hospitality  and 
Kindness. — How  People  are  "corraled." — "Western  Terms  and 
their  Significance. — How  they  live. — The  Bountiful  Boards  of 
the  Miners. — How  Sunday  is  observed. — Sunday  Auctions. — 
Gambling-Hells  licensed  by  Law. — The  Charms  of  Western 
Life. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  July  4,  1867. 
UNION  CITY,  the  place  where  I  am  celebrating  the  natal 
day  of  the  Republic,  although  bearing  the  dignified  title  of 
city,  has  not,  as  yet,  found  a  place  on  the  map  of  the  coun- 
try, and  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  urchins  of  future  gene- 
rations will  be  flogged  through  schools  in  blissful  ignorance 
of  its  existence.  It  consists  of  five  gigantic  mountain-spurs, 
or  bluffs,  forming  a  complete  circle,  with  the  exception  of 
the  narrow  passage  of  Spring  Gulch,  and  in  the  bottom  of 
the  hopper,  but  a  few  hundred  feet  in  width,  nestle  a  quartz- 
mill  and  a  dozen  of  the  rudest  pole  cabins.  Winding 
ravines  are  plowed  down  through  the  steep  cliffs  which 
almost  hang  over  the  city,  and  the  clearest,  purest,  sweet- 
est of  mountain-springs  come  dashing  and  splashing  down 
to  find  the  walled  and  sinuous  outlet  of  the  gulch  below. 
The  snow  still  whitens  the  tops  and  depressions  of  the 
mountains  all  around  us,  and,  while  the  people  of  the  East 
are  panting  and  sweltering  under  scorching  suns,  we  wear 
our  woolens  with  comfort,  and  demand  double  blankets  for 

(207) 


208  THE  BLUEBIRD   AND  ROBIN. 

pleasant  sleep.  Green  pines  adorn  the  slopes  of  the  almost 
perpendicular  hills ;  wild  flowers  crop  out  in  magnificent 
profusion,  and  even  decorate  the  very  edges  of  the  stubborn 
snow-banks.  The  little  daisy  presents  its  modest  tribute  to 
the  beautiful  of  earth  on  every  hand,  and  the  cactus  flings 
out  its  variegated  hues,  in  happy  contrast  with  the  repulsive 
sage-brush  that  claims  the  mastery  in  our  vegetation.  We 
have  no  bristling  guns,  to  make  the  mountains  around  us 
re-echo  our  rejoicing  that  the  Republic  still  lives,  redeemed 
to  unstained  Freedom  and  omnipotent  in  the  majesty  of 
justice ;  nor  can  we  have  the  measured  tread  of  proces- 
sions, marching  to  hear  sophomoric  eloquence  and  inspire 
their  patriotism  w:th  dubious  beer.  Our  little  mountain- 
city  has  no  hotel,  no  restaurant,  no  sideboards,  no  flasks,  to 
tempt  the  patriotic  from  the  path  of  sobriety.  Beyond  the 
innocent  game  of  quoits,  it  has  no  amusements  to  break  in 
upon  the  industry  of  the  staid  inhabitants.  Forty  men, 
four  ladies,  three  children,  five  cats,  three  dogs,  four 
pigeons,  three  horses,  six  oxen,  and  densely  crowded 
suburbs  of  gophers  (a  species  of  the  ground-squirrel) 
make  up  the  living  population  of  this  modest  city  of  the 
mountains  ;  and  one  green  grave,  on  the  hill-side,  of  a  loved 
and  lamented  wife,  tells  the  story  of  its  mortality.  Visitors 
now  and  then  add  to  our  various  circles.  Spring  has  just 
spread  her  lovely  verdure  on  the  mountains,  and  the  blue- 
bird comes  with  plaintive  song,  and  the  robin  with  merry 
chirp,  to  make  the  air  sweet  with  their  melody.  They 
come,  with  their  morning  warbles,  after  they  have  blessed 
the  bright  sundown  in  the  valleys  hours  before,  and  leave 
us,  as  the  early  shadows  of  evening  gather,  to  enjoy  the 
lingering  day  of  the  cliffs  and  plains.  Two  donkeys  thrust 
their  solemn  but  friendly  faces  into  our  doors  thrice  a  week, 
and  beg  a  dainty  morsel  of  old  cloth  or  paper  by  the  most 
awkward  manifestations  of  affection,  while  their  burdens 


THE  NATAL  DAY    OF  THE  REPUBLIC.          209 

of  meat,  butter,  eggs,  and  vegetables  are  emptied  to  supply 
our  wants.  Not  even  the  anniversary  of  a  nation's  birth 
can  turn  this  people  from  their  steady,  tread-mill  course  of 
life.  The  dull  click  of  the  miner's  pick  may  be  heard  far 
down  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  as  if  freedom  had  never 
been  born  in  the  Western  World ;  the  ladies  sew  and 
sweep  and  gossip  and  spread  their  tables  with  accus- 
tomed regularity ;  the  babies  crow  and  scream  and  tum- 
ble as  if  they  repelled  all  patriotic  teachings ;  the  pa- 
tient ox-teams  wind  up  and  down  the  almost  perpendicular 
steeps  as  usual ;  the  shrill  but  home-like  sound  of  the 
engine -whistle  calls  the  sons  of  toil  to  their  daily  rou- 
tine of  duty ;  the  busy  hum  of  machinery  goes  on  in 
ceaseless  murmuring  ;  puss  claims  her  passing  caress,  and 
purrs  her  everyday  song ;  the  mother  pigeon  struts  upon 
my  table  as  I  write,  bristles  her  feathers,  and  cooes  her 
demand  for  recognition ;  the  horses  browse  on  the  tender 
grasses  of  the  bluffs ;  the  dogs  bask  lazily  in  the  welcome 
sun,  and  the  squirrels  chatter  their  morning  and  evening 
chorus  all  around  us,  and  purloin  from  our  frugal  larders, 
as  if  stealing  had  no  holidays  with  them.  Thus  in  peace- 
ful, sober  industry  has  our  Fourth  been  honored,  and  its 
flight  will  mark  no  unusual  record  for  the  steady,  plodding 
inhabitants  of  Union  City.  Nearly  every  leading  nation 
of  the  world  is  here  represented.  The  sturdy  Cornish- 
man,  the  imperturbable  Welshman,  the  impetuous  son  of 
France,  the  quiet  Swede,  the  wandering  Swiss,  and  the 
brawny  Russian,  all  mingle  their  broken  accents  in  their 
evening  gatherings,  as  they  smoke  their  pipes  in  the  wealth 
of  contentment. 

Not  only  the  renowned  mountains  of  the  Far  West,  but 
also  the  peculiar  people  who  inhabit  them,  present  endless 
novelties  to  the  tourist.  Of  the  bewildering  beauty  of 
these  ranges — who.su  cl ill's  and  canons  and  plains  have 

19 


210  HOW  PEOPLE  ARE  "CORRALED." 

been  ever  present  through  a  journey  of  over  a  thousand 
miles,  and  still  seem  to  be  endless — I  have  written  before ; 
but  of  the  people  with  whom  I  have  mingled  so  pleasantly 
I  have  not  had  time  to  speak  until  now.  The  whole  civil- 
ized world  does  not  furnish  a  more  cordial,  frank,  and  hos- 
pitable class  of  citizens.  Mutually  dependent  upon  each 
other,  they  cultivate  the  highest  measure  of  true  neigh- 
borly kindness ;  their  humble  homes  and  frugal  boards 
ever  offer  shelter  and  bread  to  the  stranger,  and  the  chil- 
dren of  want  are  not  turned  away  in  sorrow  from  their 
doors.  With  them  came  crime,  armed  with  power  and 
wealth  and  defiant  of  order  and  authority ;  but  there  are 
many  nameless  graves  to  attest  the  stern  retribution  of  the 
honest  settler,  as  he  cleared  the  path  of  the  bullet  and  dag- 
ger and  made  his  treasure  safe  from  the  incursions  of  the 
robber.  They  are  eminently  social ;  and  their  peculiar  ex- 
pressions have  a  significance  of  which  the  more  cultivated 
East  have  no  knowledge.  In  all  classes,  from  the  most 
learned  to  the  least  favored  in  letters,  the  same  expressive 
Westernisms  are  in  common  use.  If  a  man  is  embarrassed 
in  any  way,  he  is  "corraled."  The  Indians  "corral"  men 
on  the  plains  ;  the  storms  "  corral"  tourists  in  the  mount- 
ains; the  criminal  is  "  corraled"  in  prison;  the  tender 
swain  is  "corraled"  by  crinoline;  the  business-man  is 
"  corraled"  by  debt  or  more  enterprising  and  successful 
competitors;  the  unfortunate  politician  is  "corraled"  by 
the  mountaineers,  the  gulchmen,  or  the  settlers  ;  the  min- 
ister is  "  corraled"  when  he  is  called  to  become  the  pastor 
of  a  congregation  ;  and  the  gambler  "  corrals"  the  dust  of 
the  miner.  Indeed,  the  application  of  the  term  is  almost 
as  indefinite  as  it  is  universal.  "Git"  is  another  of  the 
favorite  and  most  expressive  of  Western  terms.  It  is  the 
invariable  word  by  which  the  hero  of  the  whip  and  lines 
starts  his  teams  ;  and  they  understand  it  well.  "  You  git," 


WESTERN  TERMS  AND    THEIR   SIGNIFICANCE.      211 

is  Hie  most  emphatic  notice  that  can  be  given  to  any  luck- 
less chap  to  leave  the  room  or  ranch,  or  to  escape  a  re- 
volver ;  and  "  You  bet"  is  the  most  positive  manner  of 
affirmation.  Everything  is  an  "  outfit,"  from  a  train  on 
the  plains  to  a  pocket-knife.  It  is  applied  almost  indis- 
criminately,— to  a  wife,  a  horse,  a  dog,  a  cat,  or  a  row  of 
pins.  A  "lay-out"  is  any  proposed  enterprise,  from  organ- 
izing a  State  to  digging  out  a  prairie-dog.  Anything  that 
has  been  tried,  from  running  for  Congress  to  bumming  a 
drink,  has  been  "  prospected"  or  "panned  out;"  and  "lie 
didn't  get  a  color,"  expresses  the  saddest  of  failures.  When 
a  Western  man  declines  any  proposition,  he  "ain't  on  it," 
he  "  don't  go  a  cent  on  that,"  or  "none  of  that  in  mine,"  is 
his  answer.  When  he  wants  to  deal  or  fight  with  a  man, 
he  proceeds  to  "  go  for  him ;"  and  "  I'll  bet  my  bottom 
dollar"  is  his  strongest  backing  to  his  expressed  opinion. 
"  The  man  in  the  wagon"  is  the  author  of  all  sayings  and 
doings  which  can  find  no  visible  or  responsible  source. 
When  the  miner  goes  for  the  savages,  he  "  cleans  'em  out 
to  the  bed-rock ;"  and  when  a  braggart  is  to  be  silenced, 
he  is  informed  that  "nobody's  holding  you,"  or  "there's 
no  weights  on  your  coat-tails."  When  one  gets  the  de- 
cided advantage  of  another,  whether  in  deadly  conflict  or 
in  business,  he  "  has  the  drop  on  him."  The  universal 
term  for  eatables  is  "grub  ;"  and  the  most  degrading  epi- 
thet that  one  can  apply  to  another  is  to  pronounce  him  "  a 
bilk."  No  Western  man  of  pluck  will  fail  to  resent  such 
concentrated  vituperation.  The  term  was  entirely  novel 
me,  and  I  first  asked  its  meaning  of  a  landlord,  who  ex- 
tined  by  saying  that  "  a  'bilk'  is  a  man  who  never  misses 
meal  and  never  pays  a  cent."  There  are  many  others, 
equally  original  and  expressive,  which  I  have  heard  often, 
but  cannot  now  recall.  Used  as  they  are  by  all  classes,  in 
business  and  social  circles,  and  by  both  sexes,  they  have 


212  HO\V  THE  MINERS  LIVE. 

become  part  of  the  language  of  the  country ;  and  a  stranger's 
fitness  for  Western  life  is  judged  by  his  readiness  in  acquir- 
ing the  use  of  them. 

The  first  settlers  of  the  mining  regions  are  proverbially 
improvident.  As  a  rule,  they  earn  to-day  and  spend  to- 
morrow, and  often  discount  their  earnings  to  gratify  their 
appetites  or  have  a  frolic.  They  live  well — better,  as  a 
class,  than  do  the  laboring  people  of  the  East,  where  all 
articles  of  food  are  attainable.  They  never  plant  or  beautify. 
Their  home,  as  a  rule,  remains  the  same  rude  pole  cabin, 
without  regard  to  the  smiles  of  fortune;  but  their  plain 
tables  will  be  loaded  with  the  delicacies  of  the  market. 
Oyster-soup  or  -pie,  sardines,  fresh  tomatoes,  corn,  peas, 
beans,  pineapples,  whortleberries,  blackberries,  raspberries, 
strawberries,  plums,  cherries,  pears,  peaches,  etc.,  are  no 
luxuries  in  these  mountains,  thousands  of  miles  distant 
from  where  most  of  them  can  be  produced.  The}?,  may  be 
seen  in  the  miner's  camp  every  day,  and  the  most  juicy 
beef  and  the  sweetest  butter  grace  his  bountiful  board. 
They  labor  hard  in  their  gulches  or  mines,  but  are  ever 
ready  for  a  change,  whether  it  be  to  hunt  down  some  thief 
or  murderer  for  hundreds  of  miles,  or  attend  a  ball  or  a 
"  hurdy-gurdy."  They  love  the  semi-civilized  condition  of 
society,  and  rarely  ever  can  content  themselves  in  the  East 
after  having  spent  a  year  or  two  in  the  mines.  The  con- 
ventionalities and  the  restraints  of  established  communi- 
ties are  painful  to  them,  and  they  long  for  the  freedom  of 
their  huts  and  Western  life.  As  a  rule,  they  are  good  citi- 
zens,— honest,  scrupulous  in  maintaining  their  plighted 
word,  and  just,  even  generous,  between  man  and  man  ; 
but  they  don't  cramp  themselves  with  the  religious  ideas 
of  the  Puritans.  Their  Sundays  are  but  holidays,  if  even 
that.  Generally  they  refrain  from  their  regular  work  on 
that  day ;  but  they  will  do  odd  jobs,  attend  street-auctions, 


THE  CHARMS   OF   WESTERN  LIFE.  213 

in  places  like  Virginia  City,  and  sell  or  buy,  as  their  wants 
may  dictate;  while  those  who  have  a  taste  that  way  will 
take  a  small  spree,  or  amuse  themselves  with  a  game 
of  poker  or  monte,  generally  at  the  cost  of  all  their  ready 
cash.  In  Virginia  City,  gambling-hells  are  licensed  by 
authority  of  law,  and  the  games  are  carried  on  in  the  most 
public  places.  On  Sunday,  the  streets  are  crowded  with 
miners ;  the  loud  yells  of  half  a  score  of  auctioneers  drown 
your  own  voice  in  conversation ;  and  most  of  the  stores 
and  places  of  business  are  open,  and  drive  their  most 
profitable  trade.  Gradually  this  condition  of  things  will 
wear  away ;  the  missionaries  will  come  and  rear  churches, 
to  which  the  gamblers  and  miners  will  contribute  liberally; 
a  higher  moral  tone  will  steadily  infuse  itself  into  society 
as  families  become  settled  among  them,  and  the  better 
class  of  the  early  citizens  will  conform  to  the  new  order  of 
things,  while  the  lower  strata  will  seek  new  homes,  where 
the  exactions  of  civilization  will  not  confront  them  for  a 
time.  Such  is  Far-Western  life  in  the  mines.  With  all  its 
privations,  it  has  its  charms,  which,  to  most  men  here,  are 
stronger  than  the  love  of  home  or  family;  and  they  thus 
live  through  "  life's  fitful  fever,"  wandering  from  one  El 
Dorado  to  another,  until  fresh  graves,  marked  by  hard 
hands  but  tender  hearts,  tell  the  story  that  the  rugged 
journey  is  ended. 


19* 


LETTER    XXIII. 

Mining  in  Montana. — The  Failures  of  Quartz-Mills  in  the  Midst 
of  Kich  Mines. — Hundreds  of  Mills  should  be  paying  in  the 
Territory. — The  Cost  of  Mining  and  "Working  Ores. — Prices 
in  Montana. — The  Money  paid  for  Freights. — Fluctuations  in 
Business. — Why  Mining  Companies  fail. — The  Best  Mines 
owned  in  Small  Fractions. — Economical  Development  impos- 
sible.— The  "Freeze-out"  Game. — How  Companies  should  test 
Mines  before  purchasing. — Mills  not  needed  until  Mines  are 
fully  developed. — Character  of  Ores  to  determine  Character  of 
Machinery. — Montana  as  a  Field  for  Successful  Investments. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  July  6,  1867. 
I  FIND  in  Montana  the  same  ill-conceived,  badly-man- 
aged, and,  of  course,  unsuccessful  mining  enterprises  that 
the  gold-fields  of  Colorado  present,  only  on  a  much  smaller 
scale.  The  failures  are  not  so  nearly  universal  here  as 
there,  for  the  reason  that  the  ores  are  richer,  of  easier 
access,  and  as  yet  they  have  not  presented  the  combina- 
tion'of  refractory  metals  which  have  defied  all  ordinary 
processes  in  Colorado.  Some  companies  have  succeeded 
in  Montana,  and  are  now  doing  well,  with  flattering  pros- 
pects ahead ;  but  in  every  instance,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn,  they  have  been  successful  rather  in  spite  of 
the  management  than  because  of  economy  and  skill  in  their 
direction.  There  are  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  quartz- 
mills  in  this  Territory  all  completed  and  supposed  to  be  in 
order  for  running.  Some  of  them  are  total  failures  and 
hopelessly  bankrupt;  others  are  partially  defective  in  their 
(2H) 


FAILURES   OF  QUARTZ-MILLS.  215 

machinery,  and  must  await  modification  or  repairs ;  still 
others  have  the  machinery  and  the  power,  but  have  been 
defrauded  or  disappointed  in  their  mines ;  and  a  very  few 
are  more  than  paying  expenses.  All  these  failures  are  in 
the  midst  of  the  richest  gold  and  silver  mines  on  the  con- 
tinent, or  probably  in  the  world,  and  where  the  gold  is 
more  easily  obtained  than  in  California — the  Montana 
quartz,  as  a  rule,  paying  from  the  surface  down,  while  in 
California,  and  most  other  mines  of  the  precious  metals, 
shafts  must  be  sunk  hundreds  of  feet  before  "  pay-rock" 
can  be  obtained. 

Unfortunate  Eastern  stockholders  in  gold  companies, 
doubtless,  are  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  their  enterprises, 
embarked  in  with  such  confident  hopes,  drag  along  in 
wasteful  expenditure  and  finally  end  in  serious  or  total 
loss ;  but  any  one  of  them,  possessing  ordinary  business 
sagacity,  need  but  glance  at  the  actual  condition  of  things 
here  to  appreciate  that  their  failures  are  the  legitimate, 
inevitable  results  of  their  own  follies,  and  not  the  fault  of 
the  mines,  which  teem  with  boundless  and  available  wealth. 
There  ought  to  be  hundreds  of  quartz-mills  in  operation 
in  Montana  to-day,  paying  the  stockholders  their  entire 
cash  investment  each  year  in  the  shape  of  dividends ;  but 
there  must  be  a  radical  change  in  the  prevalent  system  of 
purchasing  mines,  selecting,  freighting,  and  constructing 
mills,  and  in  their  general  management,  before  success 
will  crown  the  efforts  to  develop  the  wonderful  wealth  of 
these  mountains.  There  are  leads  enough  opened  in  this 
Territory  proffering  ore  that  will  yield  from  thirty  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  ton,  to  employ  five  hundred 
or  more  stamp-mills  indefinitely ;  and  by  the  exercise  of  a 
sound  judgment  in  the  purchase  and  opening  of  the  mines 
the  ore  could  be  reduced  at  a  total  cost,  including  mining' 
;unl  delivery,  of  from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  per  ton.  While 


216  PRICES  IN  MONTANA. 

in  California  they  work  ore  profitably  that  yields  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  dollars  per  ton,  here  no  ore  can  be  re- 
duced to  pay  expenses  on  a  yield  of  less  than  thirty  dollars 
per  ton,  and  in  many  instances  it  must  yield  fifty  dollars 
to  pay  any  profit. 

It  is  true  that  wages  are  much  higher  here  than  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  must  remain  so  for  years  to  come.  The  Ter- 
ritory produces  nothing  but  gold,  silver,  grain,  vegetables, 
and  a  little  stock.  It  has  no  manufactures,  and  will  have 
none  to  supply  the  present  generation.  Machinery,  cloth- 
ing, groceries,  prints,  iron,  coffee,  lead,  etc.  must  be  pur- 
chased at  fabulous  prices.  Old  iron  is  worth  fifty  cents 
per  pound;  sheet  iron  is  worth  seventy  cents;  copper 
sheets  command  two  dollars  per  pound;  lead  ranges  from 
forty  to  seventy  cents  per  pound ;  and  the  necessaries  of 
life  are  so  costly  that  five  dollars  per  day  is  not  more  than 
living  wages  for  ordinary  laborers,  while  experienced 
miners,  engineers,  and  all  classes  of  skilled  labor  command 
from  twenty  to  fifty  per  icent.  more.  This  cannot  soon  be 
remedied,  even  in  a  country  where  wheat  is  sometimes  fed 
to  stock,  as  it  was  last  winter  in  some  of  the  bountiful 
valleys,  because  there  was  no  market  for  it.  Two  years 
before,  flour  was  worth  as  high  as  one  hundred  and  ten 
dollars  per  sack  of  one  hundred  pounds,  in  gold,  and  the 
large  profits  realized  by  those  who  exported  it  from  Salt 
Lake  stimulated  them  to  repeat  the  operation  last  year, 
and  they  were  met  with  an  abundant  supply — indeed,  a 
surplus — of  home-grown  flour,  and  had  to  sell  out  at  less 
than  freight.  Beyond  the  agricultural  portion  of  the 
citizens  of  Montana,  none  seek  to  produce  anything  but 
what  they  expect  to  yield  a  speedy  fortune,  and  no  sys- 
tematic efforts  are  made  to  lay  the  foundations  of  rich  and 
prosperous  communities.  The  settlers  are  mostly  miners, 
who  count  on  but  a  temporary  residence  here,  and  the 


FLUCTUATIONS  IN  BUSINESS.  211 

traders  and  speculators  who  ever  follow  in  their  track  to 
gather  the  lion's  share  of  the  precious  metals  after  they 
have  been  produced.  Just  now  the  Territory  is  drained 
of  one  million  of  greenbacks  to  pay  freights,  and  money 
commands  from  ten  per  cent,  a  month  up  to  six  per  cent,  a 
week.  Business  ebbs  and  flows  to  a  degree  unknown  in 
old  centres  of  trade,  and  sudden  wealth  and  as  sudden 
bankruptcy  sweep  close  upon  each  other.  Two  years  ago, 
when  the  gulches  were  producing  many  millions,  in  the 
leading  settlements  the  scant  supplies  of  goods  sold 
readily  at  prices  regulated  merely  by  the  usually 
elastic  consciences  of  the  merchants.  Last  year  busi- 
ness was  still  brisk,  and  this  year  an  immense  surplus 
of  goods  has  been  shipped,  the  market  is  perfectly 
glutted,  and  very  many  articles  are  sold  at  St.  Louis 
prices.  Some  merchants  have  been  compelled  to  borrow 
money  at  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent,  per  month  to  pay 
freight  at  Fort  Benton  and  then  sell  their  goods  at  a  loss 
of  fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  to  meet  their  obligations. 
One  year  presents  no  data  for  the  business  of  the  next, 
and  everything  goes  by  surges  or  waves  to  fortune  or  dis- 
aster. Even  the  mining  has  been  done  in  the  most  reck- 
less, wasteful  manner.  The  richest  gold-beds  are  hastily 
and  imperfectly  hurried  over,  leaving  more  in  them  than 
is  gathered  from  them,  and  new  prospects  or  diggings  call 
the  heroes  of  the  pick  and  spade  from  Alder  to  Helena, 
from  thence  to  Deer  Lodge,  thence  to  Salmon  River,  and 
so  on  through  the  hundreds  of  placers  where  the  incalcu- 
lable wealth  of  the  mountains  is  developed. 

By-and-by,  system,  patience,  and  practical  enterprise 
\vill  come  to  this  great  work,  and  the  wealth  of  Montana 
will  startle  the  world.  Just  how  soon  the  new  order  will 
arise,  I  cannot  pretend  to  judge.  If  I  had  not  gone 
through  the  desolation  and  wasted  millions  of  the  mining 


218  WHY  MINING    COMPANIES  FAIL. 

regions  of  Colorado,  I  would  predict  the  speedy  advent 
of  most  successful  enterprise  in  Montana;  but  if  good 
business-men  in  the  East  will  persist  in  wasting  fortunes 
in  Colorado,  I  cannot  assume  that  they  will  not  continue 
to  repeat  the  same  insane  profligacy  in  Montana, — soon 
encircle  its  hundreds  of  millions  of  accessible  gold  with 
bankrupt  coporations,  and  paralyze  this  peerless  fountain 
of  riches.  It  is  not  too  late  to  save  Montana  from  this 
terrible  curse,  and  save  the  many  millions  which  I  fear 
may  be  wasted,  or  worse  than  wasted,  in  the  most  inviting 
field  for  legitimate  enterprise  the  whole  world  presents. 

The  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of  most  mining  associa- 
tions organized  in  the  East  is  the  loose,  hap-hazard,  and 
careless  manner  in  which  they  are  started  and  prosecuted. 
Even  the  most  judicious  and  careful  men  in  their  regular 
business  at  home  seem  to  lose  sight  of  all  sound  princi- 
cles  in  projecting  and  directing  mining  operations  three 
thousand  miles  distant.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  buyers 
are  imposed  upon  in  the  sale  of  mines,  not  that  they  are 
wanting  in  gold,  perhaps,  but  because  they  are  so  scattered 
that  they  cannot  work  them  to  advantage.  The  best  mines 
in  Montana  are  still  held  in  a  manner  that  precludes  suc- 
cessful development.  One  man  will  own  the  whole  or  a 
fraction  of  "discovery  claim"  (the  one  hundred  feet  on 
which  the  lead  was  discovered),  and  there  will  be  different 
owners  for  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4,  and  so  on  each  way  from  dis- 
covery ;  and  most  likely  no  one  man  will  own  more  than 
a  half  or  fourth  of  the  one  or  two  hundred  feet  of  each 
claim.  Take  the  "  Dakota,"  the  "  Ora  Cache,"  the  "  Golden 
Era,"  the  "  Whitlach,"the  "Boaz,"the  "New  York  Belle," 
the  "Pony,"  and  the  hundreds  of  other  first-class  leads 
already  partially  developed,  and  the  claims,  or  fractions  of 
claims,  are  generally  owned  on  the  same  leads  so  promis- 
cuously and  adversely  that  economical  mining  is  impossi- 


('(Ml 

..l. 


THE  "FREEZE-OUT"    GAME.  219 

ble.  Most  of  the  owners,  as  a  rule,  are  men  who  have  no 
means  to  develop  their  claims,  and,  if  they  had  the  means, 
they  could  not  afford  to  do  so.  Each  would  have  to  sink 
an  expensive  shaft  in  his  claim  or  fraction  to  reach  say 
from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  feet;  and  that  is  impossi- 
ble. All  believe  that  the  lead  is  valuable ;  but  each  waits 
for  the  others  to  prove  the  richness  of  their  whole  property ; 
and  when  some  one  does  venture  to  make  the  costly  and 
hazardous  experiment,  and  this  establishes  the  value 
of  the  lead,  he  must  then  pay  the  others  fabulous  prices 
for  having  developed  their  wealth.  Development  is  not 
the  rule  among  the  miners  who  own  most  of  the  valuable 
mines,  or  at  least  fractions  of  them.  The  "freeze-out" 
game  is  much  more  common.  One  cannot  succeed  with- 
out securing  additional  claims,  so  as  to  justify  shafts  or 
tunnels,  and  his  necessities  are  fully  appreciated  by  the 
other  owners,  and  they  get  up  a  most  expensive  "lay-out" 
for  him.  I  have  seen  several  parties  sinking  separate 
shafts  in  the  same  lead,  producing  ore  at  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  dollars  per  ton,  because  of  the  small  space 
worked  by  each  shaft,  where  a  tunnel  would  deliver  all 
the  ore  of  the  lead  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  five  dollars  per 
ton.  In  this  way  companies  are  often  involved  in  disas- 
trous expenditure  to  procure  their  ore  from  first-class 
mines.  They  believe  certain  leads  to  be  good;  they  buy 
t\vo,  five,  or  ten  hundred  feet  on  them,  without  knowing 
how  their  claims  are  located  or  how  the  lead  can  best  be 
worked;  they  invest  thousands  of  dollars  to  purchase, 
hi}>.  and  erect  machinery,  and  when  they  want  their  ores 
ey  discover  that,  while  they  have  plenty  of  good  ores 
under  ground,  several  others  own  intervening  claims,  and 
compel  them  to  buy  them  out  at  ruinous  prices  or  work 
ir  claims  of  good  lends  at  a  positive  loss.  No  company 
should  ever  purchase  a  lead  fur  the  purpose  ol'  working  it, 


220  THE  ERROR   W  STARTING   MILLS. 

without  an  accurate  map  showing  the  location  of  every 
claim  on  the  lead,  the  streams  of  water  accessible  to  mills, 
the  formation  of  the  ground  traversed  by  the  mine,  its  alti- 
tude and  grade,  its  timber,  and  satisfactory  points  for  shafts 
or  tunnels  which  will  command  the  ore  at  the  least  cost. 
When  companies  announce  in  their  prospectuses  that  they 
own  claims  on  a  dozen  different  leads  whose  names  are  in 
good  repute  as  valuable  mines,  unless  they  own  connected 
claims  on  some  one  or  more  well-tested  leads  which  can 
be  worked  by  one  shaft  or  tunnel,  rest  assured  that  the 
projectors  of  the  companies  either  have  been  fearfully 
cheated,  or  they  are  seeking  to  defraud  the  public  by  the 
sale  of  stock  that  can  never  be  valuable  unless  by  accident. 
I  have  explained  in  detail  this  feature  of  mining  claims, 
because  it  is  the  rock  on  which  very  many  have  wrecked 
the  most  sanguine  hopes,  and  it  is  alike  the  interest  of  the 
country  at  large  and  of  stockholders  that  they  look  well 
in  the  start  to  this  peril.  A  mill  once  erected,  whose  suc- 
cess depends  upon  the  control  of  adjoining  claims,  is  cer- 
tain to  suffer  extortion  to  a  degree  often  fatal,  or  make  its 
bed  in  bankruptcy  beside  untold  wealth. 

Another  fundamental  error  committed  by  nearly  all 
companies  is  the  expenditure  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  to  start  mills  before  their  leads  are  developed.  This 
is  the  common  disease  that  has  spread  hopeless  failure 
throughout  the  mountains;  and,  strange  to  say,  the  most 
stupendous  failures  have  been  made  by  the  most  trusted 
scientific  men.  It  will  doubtless  startle  thousands  of  your 
readers,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  there  is  not  a  single 
gold-mine  in  Montana  that  is  developed,  and  few,  if  any, 
in  Colorado.  Good  "pay-rock"  has  been  found  here  in 
the  surface  ores,  and  they  have  been  worked  with  tolerable 
success ;  but  the  character  and  value  of  the  leads,  clown 
where  they  are  clearly  defined,  no  one  has  as  yet  ascer- 


HOW   COMPANIES  SHOULD    TEST  MINES.        221 

tamed.  Experienced  miners  judge  of  them  by  the  walls, 
clay,  pockets,  and  streaks,  and  pronounce  them  the  most 
valuable  and  trustworthy  in  the  world;  but  one  claim  of  two 
hundred  feet  on  a  lead  may  be  of  surpassing  richness,  while 
another  may  cap,  or  pinch,  or  narrow  to  almost  nothing. 
One  claim  will  present  free  gold,  while  the  adjoining  claim 
will  be  so  strongly  impregnated  with  iron  as  to  defy  re- 
duction by  the  ordinary  stamp-mill.  I  have  seen  free  gold 
and  heavy  sulphurets  at  the  same  depth,  on  the  same  lead, 
and  within  one  hundred  feet  of  each  other.  When  these 
facts  are  considered,  sensible  men  will  see  the  folly  of  rush- 
ing up  mills  on  undeveloped  leads,  where  they  have  to 
run  the  risk  of  striking  barren  mines  or  a  character  of  ores 
that  their  mills  will  not  reduce.  No  mining  company  in 
Colorado  or  Montana  should  entertain  the  idea  of  purchas- 
ing machinery  for  at  least  one  year  after  they  have  secured 
their  mines.  When  they  have  purchased  their  leads, — 
always  being  careful  to  have  their  claims  in  a  body  or 
bodies  sufficiently  large  for  the  most  economical  mining, — 
they  should  employ  a  trustworthy,  experienced,  and  prac- 
tical miner  to  develop  their  mines.  Ten  or  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  thus  expended  will  prove  beyond  all  doubt 
the  character  and  value  of  the  ore ;  and  until  at  least  one 
thousand  tons  of  ore  are  on  the  bank,  its  value  proven,  its 
cost  calculated,  and  its  peculiarities  ascertained,  nothing 
else  should  be  considered.  If  the  mines  refuse  to  yield 
good  ore  at  a  reasonable  cost,  the  loss  is  comparatively 
slight,  and  the  project  can  be  abandoned  without  involving 
the  sacrifice  of  the  whole  capital  of  the  company  and  the 
embarrassment  of  many  of  its  founders.  Companies  thus 
foiled,  with  the  expensive  mills  erected,  are  natural  Iv 
tempted  to  borrow  and  assess  additional  sums,  with  the 
faint  hope  that  they  may  .succeed  by  mistaken  percscver- 

20 


222          CHARACTER    OF  MINING  MACHINERY. 

ance,  until  finally  hope  and  means  fade  out  together,  and 
the  enterprise  is  abandoned  in  despair. 

If  the  mines  prove  valuable,  and  an  abundance  of  good 
ore  can  be  produced  at  a  reasonable  cost,  the  character  of 
the  ore  is  next  to  be  considered,  and  the  selection  of  the 
proper  machinery  and  power  to  reduce  it  and  save  the 
largest  percentage  of  the  gold  or  silver.  For  crushing 
all  kinds  of  free-gold  quartz,  the  ordinary  stamp-mill  is 
the  best,  while  for  slight  mixtures  of  the  pyrites  of 
iron  the  Chilian  mills  and  barrel  -amalgamators  are  pre- 
ferable. The  stamp-mill  is  the  simplest  and  most  waste- 
ful machinery  used  in  the  reduction  of  ores.  It  requires 
less  skill,  and  is  less  expensive.  The  Chilian  mill  does 
better  work,  and,  with  the  barrels,  will  often  take  more 
gold  out  of  the  ore  after  it  has  been  reduced  by  the 
stamps  and  ordinary  amalgamation,  than  the  stamp  pro- 
cess yields.  When  the  ore  is  largely  mixed  with  the  base 
metals,  as  in  Colorado,  there  is  no  process  yet  perfected 
that  will  reduce  it  profitably.  The  best  scientific  talent  of 
this  country  and  of  Europe  is  now  directed  to  master 
these  refractory  ores,  and  is  steadily  attaining  a  higher 
measure  of  success;  but,  until  entirely  successful,  ama- 
teurs have  no  business  experimenting  with  any  of  the 
various  patents  which  flood  the  markets.  Companies 
which  develop  such  ores  will  save  money  by  waiting  for 
science  to  overtake  them ;  and  they  can  do  it  with  entire 
confidence  that  they  will  ultimately  make  their  mines 
profitable.  When  companies  have  thus  fairly  developed 
their  mines  and  ascertained  the  character  of  their  ores, 
they  can  readily  determine  what  kind  of  machinery  is 
best  adapted  to  their  wants,  and  they  can  then  wisely  pro- 
ceed to  ship  it.  First,  however,  they  cannot  be  too  careful 
in  looking  to  the  quality  and  completeness  of  their  mills. 
There  are  mills  now  erected  in  this  Territory  which  were 


SELECTION   OF  A    SUPERINTENDENT.  223 

worn  out  in  a  month.  This  is  no  country  for  defective 
machinery.  It  cannot  be  repaired,  and  missing  pieces 
cannot  be  supplied.  Every  part  of  a  mill  likely  to  break 
should  be  duplicated,  and  a  forge  outfit  is  essential  to  suc- 
cess. There  is,  as  yet,  no  foundry  in  the  Territory.  I 
learn  that  one  is  about  to  be  established  in  Helena ;  but 
the  stoppage  of  a  profitable  mill  for  days  to  get  repairs 
done  one  hundred  miles  or  more  distant,  is  attended  with 
fearful  loss,  not  to  count  the  exorbitant  charges  for  work 
and  transportation.  If  anything  important  is  found  want- 
ing in  the  machinery  when  it  arrives,  it  requires  another 
season  to  supply  it,  as  no  trains  or  boats  leave  the  East 
for  Montana,  the  same  year,  after  a  mill  is  delivered  on  the 
ground,  and  its  defects  discovered  by  its  erection.  One 
company  here  lost  a  year  by  the  omission  to  send  some 
essential  portion  of  the  mill.  If  they  are  improving  the 
lost  time  in  developing  their  mines,  it  was  A  fortunate  ac- 
cident ;  but  they  can  claim  much  above  the  average  of  good 
management,  if  they  thus  made  their  supposed  mishaps  a 
blessing. 

The  mill  selected  and  started  by  the  river,  a  first-class, 
industrious  business-man  is  wanted  for  superintendent. 
In  most  cases,  some  son  or  friend  of  one  of  the  leading 
officers  of  the  company,  having  no  fitness  for  business, 
and  entirely  inexperienced,  is  sent  out  to  enjoy  fast  horses, 
good  liquors,  and  cigars,  and  speedily  mismanage  the  com- 
pany into  debt  and  failure.  Sound,  practical,  experienced, 
and  frugal  men  only  can  conduct  such  operations  prop- 
erly. With  wages  from  five  dollars  to  eight  dollars  per 
day,  and  everything  else  in  proportion,  mismanagement 
tells  upon  profits  and  capital  here  with  a  rapidity  that 
Eastern  men  can  scarcely  appreciate.  In  no  ordinary  busi- 
ness in  the  East  is  judicious  supervision  so  essential,  and 
the  dividing  line  between  success  and  failure  so  narrow. 


224  ALDER    GULCH. 

I  have,  for  obvious  reasons  consistent  with  truth  and 
fairness,  given  the  dark  side  of  mining  operations  in  Mon- 
tana. It  is  one  vast  field  of  bewildering  wealth,  and  I 
most  earnestly  hope  to  see  it  speedily  and  most  success- 
fully developed.  Twenty  millions  of  capital  could  be  more 
profitably  invested  here  than  in  any  other  locality ;  and, 
by  simply  observing  the  same  sound  business  principles 
which  govern  capitalists  in  other  enterprises,  not  one  dol- 
lar in  twenty  should  be  lost,  while  a  very  large  majority  of 
the  investments  would  pay  fabulous  returns.  In  no  other 
mining  region  are  the  leads  so  uniformly  good  and  so  easily 
tested;  and  they  can,  as  a  rule,  be  developed  by  tunnels, 
and  the  ore  delivered  at  a  very  low  rate.  Not  only  the 
mountains,  but  the  gulches  are  of  incomparable  richness. 
Alder  Gulch,  that  has  already  produced  more  gold  than 
any  other  single  gulch  in  the  world  (so  I  am  informed), 
will  soon  be  worked  over  again  and  repeat  its  previous 
yield.  It  was  once  worked  for  ten  consecutive  miles,  in 
claims  of  one  hundred  feet,  and  each  claim  yielded  from 
two  hundred  dollars  to  two  thousand  dollars  every  twenty- 
four  hours.  Clear-headed  business-men  are  now  gathering 
up  the  claims,  and  will,  by  one  central  flume  traversing 
the  rock-bottom,  work  over  the  whole  gulch  with  vast 
profit,  while  others  will  wash  down  the  rich  hill-sides  by 
the  hydraulic  process.  In  the  mean  time,  the  rich  bluff's 
whence  the  gold  of  the  gulch  has  been  washed  will  be 
disemboweled,  and  their  leads,  studded  with  gold  quartz, 
worth  from  thirty  dollars  to  one  thousand  dollars  per  ton, 
will  be  worked,  and  boundless  fortunes  amassed.  There  is 
no  part  of  this  continent  where  Eastern  capital  is  so  much 
wanted,  and  where  it  will  so  well  reward  its  judicious  in- 
vestment, as  in  Montana;  and  I  entreat  men  to  discard 
"professors,"  jobbers  in  claims,  inflated  speculative  con- 
cerns, and  lend  a  helping  hand  in  the  legitimate  develop- 


COLOSSAL  FORTUNES   TO  BE  MADE.  225 

ment  of  this  slumbering-  wealth.  Send  practical  men  to 
secure  leads  properly  located  for  development,  and  then, 
above  all  things,  "make  haste  slowly."  Test  all  things, 
and  failure  is  hardly  possible.  Different  degrees  of  success 
will  be  attained ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  there  must  be  incal- 
culable profits,  and  the  colossal  fortunes  of  the  next  decade 
will  have  their  birth  in  this  long-unknown  but  richest 
offering  of  our  national  creation. 


20* 


LETTER    XXIV. 

The  Montana  Vigilanters. — The  Reign  of  Crime  in  the  Mining 
Regions. — Montana  the  Refuge  of  the  Lawless. — The  Concentra- 
tion of  Desperadoes. — How  Virginia  City  was  named. — Organi- 
zation of  Pluminer's  Band. — Plummer  Sheriif  of  the  Territory. 
— All  the  Channels  of  the  Law  controlled. — Completeness  of  the 
Organization. — Its  Signs  and  Officers. — Victims  unconsciously 
notifying  the  Robbers  of  their  Prey. — The  Tide  of  Retribution. 
— Its  Merciless  Sweep. — Colonel  John  X.  Beidler. — The  Hero  of 
Montana  Justice. — His  History  and  Exploits. — How  the  Judg- 
ment of  the  Vigilanters  is  executed. — The  First  Execution. — 
The  Last  of  Plummer 's  Band. — The  Great  Revolution  wrought 
by  the  Vigilanters. — One  of  their  own  Members  executed. — The 
Justice  of  their  Judgments. — The  Restoration  of  Order  and 
Safety. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,. July  9,  1867. 
THE  term  "  Vigilance  Committee"  is  familiar  to  all 
Eastern  readers ;  but  there  are  few  who  have  just  concep- 
tions of  crime  as  it  compassed  the  isolated  mountain  min- 
ing regions,  or  of  its  merciless  retribution.  California 
tolerated  the  rule  of  murderers  and  desperadoes  for  years, 
but  finally  effected  an  organization  founded  on  the  maxim 
salus  populi  suprema  lex,  and  the  leaders  of  disorder  and 
lawlessness  were  executed  or  banished.  But  California 
then  had  large  cities,  vast  commerce,  easy  access  to  the 
great  business  centres  of  trade,  and  a  social  bulwark  to 
strengthen  the  harsh  but  imperative  reformation.  Not  so 
with  the  Territories  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Their  wealth 
was  discovered  just  when  the  golden  slopes  of  the  Pacilic 
hud  become  intolerable  for  those  who  preferred  any  crime 
(  220  ) 


THE  REIGN  OF  CRIME.  227 

in  the  decalogue  to  honest  industry.  Colorado,  Idaho,  and 
Montana  were  isolated  from  the  civilized  world.  Hun- 
dreds or  thousands  of  miles  had  to  be  traveled  over,  mount- 
ain-passes and  almost  trackless  plains,  unpeopled  save  by 
the  pitiless  savage ;  and  the  population  was  of  necessity 
rude,  without  social  restraints,  and  naturally  tended  to 
semi-barbarism.  There  was  no  government,  no  law,  no 
access  to  the  protecting  power  of  the  national  authority  for 
years,  and  here  were  most  inviting  fields  for  the  banished 
desperadoes  of  other  lands,  and  every  incentive  to  lead  the 
upright  down  through  the  tempting  but  ultimately  fatal 
labyrinths  of  crime.  Few  families  were  among  the  early 
settlers,  and  the  happy  influences  of  faithful  wives  and  vir- 
tuous daughters  were  unknown.  The  influence  of  woman, 
so  far  as  felt,  came  from  the  hopelessly  fallen,  and,  like 
all  perverted  angels  of  light,  they  but  hastened  the  mas- 
tery of  wrong  and  led  the  way.  Gamblers  plied  their  vo- 
cation, without  blush  or  restraint,  on  the  most  public  places. 
Murderers  infested  every  locality  where  there  was  the 
least  inducement  to  take  life  for  gold ;  and  organized  thieves 
ramified  into  every  settlement.  It  is  a  tradition  of  Denver 
that  Mr.  Greeley  was  so  highly  respected  when  visiting  that 
place  in  1859,  that,  as  he  mounted  a  box  to  address  the 
citizens  near  the  "  Elephant  Corral,"  the  dealer  of  three- 
card  monte  on  the  sidewalk  close  by  suspended  his  game 
until  the  speech  was  concluded.  This  was  considered  a 
most  marked  deference  to  the  public  appreciation  of  the 
man,  and  a  tribute  that  few  bishops  could  have  won.  So 
common  was  this  fearful  vice  there,  and  in  all  the  other 
Territories  as  they  were  first  settled,  that  every  public 
place  on  the  streets  and  sidewalks,  but  two,  successfully 
invited  the  miner  to  be  defrauded  of  his  earnings. 

I  have  in  a  previous  letter  referred  in  general  terms  to 
1ho  rcig-ii  and  decline  of  crime  in  Colorado,  and  the  stern 


228  HOW    VIRGINIA    CITY   WAS  NAMED. 

retribution  the  Denver  Yigilanters  visited  upon  some  of 
the  most  desperate  leaders  in  lawlessness ;  but  it  was  re- 
served for  Montana  to  organize  and  maintain  the  most 
efficient  combination  of  order-loving  men  that  this  country 
has  ever  witnessed.  Just  as  Colorado  had  become  strong 
enough  to  enforce  some  measure  of  public  order  and  safety, 
the  richest  gulches  of  the  continent  were  discovered  in 
Idaho  and  Montana,  and  there  was  a  general  exodus  of 
thieves  and  murderers  from  all  the  other  mining  regions, 
and  also  from  the  haunts  of  evil  in  the  Eastern  cities,  to 
inaugurate  the  supremacy  of  crime  in  this  new  El  Dorado. 
Four  years  ago  (in  June,  1863)  the  surpassing  richness 
of  Alder  Gulch  was  discovered.  With  the  lucky  adven- 
turers who  opened  its  glittering  wealth,  came 

"  The  first  low  wash  of  waves,  where  soon 
Shall  roll  a  human  sea." 

Nevada  was  the  first  mining  camp  established.  It  is  down 
near  the  extremity  of  the  gulch ;  but,  as  its  wonderful  de- 
posits of  the  precious  metals  were  opened  up  the  stream, 
Virginia  City  was  founded.  It  was  called  Yarina,  in 
honor  of  the  then  rebel  chieftain's  wife,  and  two-thirds  of 
its  inhabitants  were  jubilant  with  the  hope  soon  to  be  sub- 
jects of  the  notorious  heroes  of  treason.  Antietam,  Gettys- 
burg, Yicksburg,  Atlanta,  Nashville,  Five  Forks,  and  Ap- 
pomattox  were  then  unknown,  and  the  fitting  representa- 
tives of  unholy  rebellion  in  these  mountain-fastnesses  had 
forgotten  that  there  is  One  high  over  all,  whose  justice 
sleeps  not.  Little  did  they  dream  that,  like  the  name  they 
so  fondly  cherished  as  to  rear  thereto  a  city,  they  must 
soon  live  only  in  the  history  of  the  overthrow  of  wrong  in 
Montana.  Judge  Bissel  indignantly  and  arbitrarily  ex- 
punged the  name,  and  substituted  Yirginia,  in  his  first 
legal  record,  informing  the  bewildered  audience,  in  Ian- 


ORGANIZATION  OF  PLUMBER* 8  RAND.         229 

more  emphatic  than  polite,  that  no  such  blot  should 
the  records  of  justice  in  his  court. 
A  year  before  the  settlement  of  Virginia,  the  rich  placers 
of  Beaver  Head  and  Deer  Lodge  had  been  discovered,  and 
it  was  in  these  localities  that  the  most  perfectly  organized 
and  best  appointed  band  of  desperadoes  ever  known  on  the 
continent  had  its  origin.  Its  system  was  perfect,  its  plans 
devised  and  executed  with  consummate  skill,  and  it  reached 
into  every  camp  close  upon  the  footsteps  of  the  miners. 
While  Bannock  City  was  its  original  centre,  as  Virginia 
grew  in  importance  and  surpassed  all  other  camps  in  wealth 
and  population,  it  promptly  extended  its  operations  until  its 
chief  field  was  here.  It  was  no  loose  aggregation  of  in- 
dependent thieves  and  cut-throats.  It  had  a  commander, 
subordinate  executive  officers,  secretaries,  agents,  stool- 
pigeons,  signs,  and  by  hieroglyphics  could  so  mark  a  man, 
a  coach,  or  a  train  as  to  make  them  innocently  invite  their 
own  destruction  on  the  way.  Certain  of  the  leaders  even 
wore  their  neck-ties  in  a  peculiar  knot,  and  by  day  or  night, 
whether  visible  or  shrouded  in  darkness,  they  could  com- 
municate with  and  aid  each  other.  They  were  not,  as  in 
California  and  Colorado,  the  shunned  and  abandoned  men 
of  the  communities  in  which  they  lived ;  they  were  the 
most  wealthy,  influential,  and  by  many  at  first  believed  to 
be  useful  citizens.  The  leader  of  the  band,  Henry  Plum- 
mer,  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  of  villains,  and  a 
master-mind  in  the  application  and  government  of  men. 
So  shrewdly  did  he  direct  ^iis  operations  that  he  was 
chosen  sheriff  of  both  Madison  and  Beaver  Head  counties, 
and  his  deputies  were  selected  from  the  most  trusted  and 
expert  of  his  band.  The  counties  had  no  legal  organiza- 
tion; no  authority  was  known  other  than  the  regulations 
adopted  by  the  settlers,  and  might  made  right.  With  the 
power  of  the  people  in  the  two  richest  and  most  populous 


230  "ROAD-AGENTS" 

counties  in  his  keeping,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  for  nearly 
two  years  the  band  prospered  and  defied  detection.  So 
completely  did  the  organization  compass  everything  re- 
lating to  their  interests  that  every  placer  was  watched, 
its  yield  traced  to  the  time  of  shipment,  and  it  was  rarely 
indeed  that  any  man  could  get  safely  to  the  States  with 
treasure.  They  were,  as  a  rule,  lucky  if  they  lost  only 
their  gold  and  saved  their  lives.  If  they  started  in  a 
coach  or  with  a  train,  unerring  signs  were  marked  upon 
them,  or  upon  something  about  them,  to  notify  the  pre- 
datory bands  to  strike  and  secure  the  plunder ;  or  if 
vengeance  was  to  be  glutted,  as  was  often  the  case,  the 
traveler  would  unconsciously  notify  the  skulking  foe  that 
his  life-blood  was  to  be  theirs.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  were  thus  plundered  from  miners  and  business- 
men, and,  if  arrests  were  made,  the  prisoners  were 
delivered  to  Sheriff  Plummer,  the  chief  of  the  robbers. 
They  thus  escaped  punishment,  and  were  soon  off  again 
to  operate  for  the  band  in  some  new  field,  where  recogni- 
tion was  improbable.  This  organization  became  known  as 
"Road- Agents,"  from  the  fact  that  they  committed  most 
of  their  depredations  on  the  routes  of  travel;  and  to  this 
day  no  other  term  is  applied  to  highway-robbery  in  the  Far 
West.  They  numbered  over  fifty  desperate  men,  all  well 
armed  and  most  skilled  in  the  use  of  weapons,  and  had, 
besides,  probably  a  hundred  or  more  outside  allies  and 
dependents.  They  would  scatter  in  every  direction,  and 
simultaneously  rob  coaches,  trains,  or  travelers  hundreds  of 
miles  apart.  They  had  stations  all  through  the  country, 
where  they  could  stop  in  safety,  as  the  keepers  were  pimps 
of  the  band  and  received  small  shares  of  the  common 
booty.  Thus  these  thousand  sinews  of  crime  extended 
throughout  all  the  settlements  and  highways  of  Montana, 
held  the  law  paralyzed  in  their  clutches,  and  were  supreme 


ORIGIN  OF  THE    VIGILANTERS.  231 

everywhere  in  the  Territory.  Even  when  the  civil  law 
protruded  to  assume  its  prerogatives,  this  band  either  fur- 
nished or  corrupted  its  officers,  and  no  jury  could  be  sworn 
that  did  not  contain  enough  of  their  own  members  to  con- 
trol the  verdict.  Not  only  did  they  murder  when  neces- 
sary to  rob,  but  they  gradually  became  so  bold  that,  upon 
the  slightest  provocation,  they  would  deliberately  shoot 
down  men  on  the  streets  of  Virginia,  Nevada,  or  Bannock, 
and  none  dared  to  call  them  to  account.  Encouraged  by 
habitual  success,  and  confident  that  there  was  no  power 
equal  to  the  task  of  bringing  them  to  punishment,  they 
finally  flung  over  Montana  a  reign  of  the  most  appalling 
terror,  and  men  were  compelled  to  defer  to  Plummer,  obey 
his  authority  as  an  officer,  and  submit  in  silence  to  his 
atrocities  to  save  their  own  lives. 

But,  though  "the  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slowly,  they 
grind  exceeding  small."  Many  prominent  citizens  had 
been  murdered  or  robbed,  and  the  depredations  of  the  band 
on  the  routes  to  the  States  were  so  frequent  that  no  one 
ventured  to  return  with  treasure.  Every  good  citizen  felt 
that  there  must  soon  be  a  terrible  remedy  applied,  or  all 
legitimate  pursuits  abandoned.  Strange  to  say,  the  mur- 
der of  one  of  the  humblest  residents  of  Montana — a  simple, 
friendless  German — was  the  feather  that  broke  down  pub- 
lic forbearance  and  called  into  existence  a  power  that  has 
executed  nearly  one  hundred  men,  banished  hundreds  of 
others,  and  restored  order,  safety,  and  peace  in  Montana 
without  a  single  stain  of  injustice  upon  its  fame.  The 
German  was  murdered  to  obtain  some  mules  he  had  sold, 
and  was  on  his  way  to  deliver  to  the  purchaser,  who  had 
already  paid  him  for  them.  lie  had  been  in  the  employ 
(»f  Mr.  Clark,  an  old  resident  of  California  and  a  member 
of  the  Yigilanters.  The  lifeless  body  had  been  secreted  in 
u  thicket  of  sage-brush,  and  the  story  circulated  that  the 


232  COLONEL  JOHN  X.  BEIDLER. 

German  had  left  for  unknown  parts  with  the  mules  and 
money.  For  some  time  there  were  no  data  to  controvert 
the  explanation  made  by  the  murderers ;  but  finally  a 
hunter  brought  down  a  grouse,  which  fell  in  the  very 
thicket  in  which  the  body  of  the  German  was  concealed, 
and  told  the  story  of  another  murder  by  the  "  Road- 
Agents."  The  body  wTas  taken  to  the  city,  and  Mr.  Clark 
was  the  first  man,  I  believe,  to  give  form  to  the  ripened 
resolution  against  the  desperadoes.  The  effort  was  gener- 
ally and  promptly  seconded,  and,  once  started,  its  sweep  was 
boundless  and  merciless.  It  was  a  perilous  undertaking. 
A  single  failure  would  have  been  fatal  to  all  concerned  in  it ; 
and  it  was  not  doubted  that  the  lawless  were  in  a  decided 
majority.  Had  any  ten  or  even  fifty  men  been  suspected 
of  such  a  purpose  before  the  organization  was  effected,  not 
one  could  have  lived  to  see  their  plans  succeed ;  but  they 
were  discreet  as  resolute ;  their  vengeance  was  unseen  and 
unfeared  until  it  took  the  murderer  from  his  bed  and  the 
light  of  morning  dawned  upon  his  lifeless  body  suspended 
from  a  tree.  There  was  no  muttering  thunder  before  the 
bolt  fell  with  pitiless  destruction  upon  the  wrong-doers. 

Of  the  many  brave  men  who  inaugurated  and  openly 
sustained  this  movement,  no  one  can  justly  be  awarded 
exclusive  praise  ;  but  there  is" one  who- figures  as  conspicu- 
ously in  the  history  of  the  Yigilanters  as  did  Plummer  in 
the  reign  of  terror.  Some  twelve  years  ago  I  was  accus- 
tomed to  meeting,  on  the  streets  of  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  a 
young  man  named  John  X.  Beidler.  His  frugal  wants 
were  supplied  by  the  manufacture  of  brooms,  and  finally 
he  mixed  the  best  of  cock-tails  and  juleps  at  a  neighboring 
summer  resort.  He  was  as  amiable  and  unoffending  a  lad 
as  the  community  could  furnish,  and  his  jolly,  genial  hu- 
mor made  him  a  favorite  with  all  who  knew  him.  Although 
he  had  attained  his  majority,  he  was  scarcely  five  feet  six 


BEIDLERS  HISTORY  AND  EXPLOITS.         233 

inches  in  height,  and  was  far  below  the  average  of  men 
in  physical  power.  He  finally  wandered  West  in  search 
of  fortune,  and  soon  after  the  advent  of  Plummer  came 
"X,"  the  name  by  which  he  is  universally  known  in  Mon- 
tana. Thus  the  bane  and  the  antidote  were  close  upon 
each  other.  Strong  in  his  inherent  love  of  honesty,  a 
stranger  to  fear,  not  powerful,  but  quick  as  thought  in  his 
actions,  and  firm  in  his  purpose  as  the  eternal  mountains 
around  him,  he  naturally  entered  promptly  and  earnestly 
into  the  effort  to  restore  order  and  safety  to  society.  That 
little  was  expected  of  him  when  he  first  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  stern  reformers  is  not  surprising ;  but  his  tireless  per- 
severance, unfaltering  courage,  and  singular  skill  in  thwart- 
ing the  plans  of  the  common  enemy  soon  made  him  the 
chief  pillar  of  the  organization,  and  the  unspeakable  terror 
of  every  desperado.  This  diminutive  man,  without  family 
or  property  to  defend,  has  himself  arrested  scores  of  the 
most  powerful  villains,  and  has  executed,  in  open  day, 
an  equal  number  under  the  direction  of  that  wonderful, 
dreaded,  unseen  power  that  surrounded  the  hasty  scaf- 
fold. So  expert  is  he  with  his  faithful  pistol  that  the 
most  scientific  of  rogues  have  repeatedly  attempted  in  vain 
to  get  "the  drop"  on  him.  Quick  as  a  flash  his  pistol 
is  drawn,  cocked  in  the  drawing,  and  presented  at  the 
doomed  man,  with  the  stern  demand,  "Hands  up,  sir," 
and  the  work  is  done.  At  one  time,  without  aid,  he  ar- 
rested six  of  the  most  desperate  thieves  in  a  body,  all 
well  armed,  and  marched  them  before  him  to  prison. 
"  Hands  up,  gents !"  was  the  first  intimation  they  had  from 
him  that  he  had  business  with  them,  and  submission  was 
the  only  course  of  safety.  Had  any  one  of  them  attempted 
to  reach  toward  his  belt,  he  would  have  fallen  that  moment. 
There  were  citizens  close  by ;  and  how  many  of  them,  if 
any,  were  sworn  to  protect  and  ready  to  aid  Beidler,  he 

21 


234  HIS  REMARKABLE   CAREER. 

knew,  while  the  prisoners  did  not.  This  indefinite,  un- 
seen, immeasurable  power  seems  to  have  ever  stricken  the 
most  courageous  thieves  and  murderers  nerveless  when  its 
sudden  and  fatal  grasp  was  thrown  around  them.  They 
would  fight  scores  of  men  for  their  lives  in  any  ordinary 
attempt  to  arrest  them,  but  they  seemed  weakened  when 
the  citizen  confronted  them  in  the  name  of  public  safety. 
No  formalities  were  known.  No  process  was  read  bearing 
the  high  seal  of  the  courts.  When  or  where  the  dread  sum- 
mons of  the  great  unseen  tribunal  would  come,  none  could 
conjecture.  The  sleeping  companion  of  the  desperado  in 
some  distant  ranch  would  probably  drink  and  breakfast 
with  him,  and  then  paralyze  him  by  the  notice,  "  You're 
wanted — business  at  Virginia !"  In  no  instance  did  any 
of  the  many  lawless  characters  arrested  by  the  Vigilants 
ever  fire  a  pistol  in  their  own  defense,  even  when  they  knew 
that  death  was  inevitable.  In  most  cases  the  opportunity 
to  do  so  was  but  slight ;  but,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
the  closest  chances  would  be  taken  to  effect  escape.  From 
"X"  no  criminal  ever  got  away.  To  have  attempted  it 
would  have  been  to  hasten  death.  So  much  did  the  des- 
peradoes respect  as  well  as  fear  him,  that  most  of  them, 
when  condemned  to  die  by  his  hand,  committed  their  last 
requests  to  him,  and  with  him  they  have  been  sacred. 
Order  and  public  safety  have  been  restored,  but  he  still  has 
employment  in  bis  favorite  line.  He  comes  and  goes,  and 
none  but  himself  know  his  errand.  "What's  up,  X?"  is 
a  query  that  is  generally  answered,  "  After  tracks ;"  and 
"  Don't  know"  is  his  usual  reply  to  all  questions  as  to  his 
route  or  tftne  of  departure.  He  has  traversed  alone  every 
highway  and  settlement  of  Montana,  prospected  many  of 
the  unexplored  regions,  and  is  always  ready,  without  escort 
or  aid,  to  pursue  a  criminal  wherever  he  may  seek  refuge. 
His  career  has,  indeed,  been  most  remarkable,  and  his  es- 


THE  FIRST  EXECUTION.  235 

cape  unharmed,  through  his  innumerable  conflicts  with  the 
worst  of  men,  seems  almost  wholly  miraculous.  He  has  re- 
cently been  appointed  Collector  of  Customs  for  the  port  of 
Helena  ;  but,  while  there  is  a  thief,  a  defaulter,  a  murderer, 
or  a  savage  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Montana,  he  will  re- 
main the  most  efficient  messenger  of  justice  known  in  the 
mountain  gold-regions.  He  has  lost  none  of  his  genial, 
kindly  nature  by  his  long  service  as  the  minister  of  venge- 
ance upon  the  lawless,  and  wherever  he  goes  he  is  wel- 
comed by  every  lover  of  order  and  government.  When 
he  is  upon  the  war-path  "  it's  no  for  naething  the  gled 
whistles,"  and  crime  has  no  escape  but  in  timely  retreat. 
Fully  three  thousand  perfectly  organized  men  are  at  his 
back.  They  have  their  companies,  officers,  minute-men, 
and  messengers  in  every  settlement,  and  he  can  rally  in  an 
instant  scores  or  hundreds  of  true  men  to  his  side. 

The  first  execution  was  that  of  George  Ives,  and  he  was 
condemned  by  a  court  of  the  people.  It  was  the  turning- 
point  of  order  or  anarchy.  The  outlaws  were  numerically 
the  strongest,  and  the  rescue  of  the  prisoner  was  among 
the  probable  results ;  but  brave  men  were  braver  than  be- 
fore, and  the  cloud  of  crime  that  encompassed  the  court 
to  control  the  verdict  or  save  the  accused  by  fresh  mur- 
der was  dissipated  by  the  stern  integrity  and  unblenching 
courage  of  the  lovers  of  order.  Colonel  Sanders,  a  young 
advocate,  small  in  stature,  but  large  in  soul  and  manhood, 
conducted  the  prosecution,  and  for  the  first  time  the  ad- 
vancing column  of  wrong  recoiled  as  the  verdict  was  an- 
nounced, "  That  George  Ives  be  forthwith  hung  by  the 
neck  until  he  is  dead."  Fifty-eight  minutes  thereafter,  but 
ten  yards  distant  from  the  place  where  he  had  been  tried, 
the  fatal  drop  fell,  and  justice  had  a  foothold  in  Montana. 
This  was  on  the  21st  of  December,  1863.  Soon  after,  Sheriff 
Plummer  and  two  of  his  band  were  executed  together  at 


236  THE   TIDE  OF  RETRIBUTION. 

Bannock.  He  swung  from  a  gallows  he  had  erected  for 
the  execution  of  another,  and  he  maintained  his  wonderful 
self-possession  to  the  end.  His  last  act  was  a  deliberate 
examination  of  the  rope  and  drop,  to  be  sure  that  his  neck 
should  be  broken  by  the  fall,  and  he  was  launched  into 
eternity  without  a  prayer.  Five  of  his  followers  sleep  in 
unmarked  graves  on  the  hill  close  by  this  city:  they  died 
together,  on  one  of  the  street-corners,  and  then  the  resist- 
less course  of  justice  ran  on,  until,  at  last,  near  the  head  of 
the  murmuring  waters  of  the  Gallatin,  a  lifeless  body,  sus- 
pended from  a  tree,  bore  this  inscription :  "  Bill  Hunter, 
the  last  of  Henry  Plummer's  band."  Several  of  those 
first  arrested  and  executed  confessed  upon  the  gallows,  and 
revealed  the  names  of  the  whole  organization,  and  with  this 
information  the  Vigilants  rested  not  until  there  was  not  one 
of  the  original  Plummer  band  among  the  living.  Not  one  re- 
mains of  that  once  omnipotent  organization  to  tell  its  crim- 
soned and  fatal  history.  After  the  leaders  had  been  exe- 
cuted— three  at  Bannock  and  five  at  Virginia — one  by  one, 
the  scattered  fugitives  were  hunted  down  and  sent  sud- 
denly to  their  long  homes.  All  of  them  died  without  even 
the  profession  of  penitence,  and  many  of  them  blasphemed 
until  utterance  was  choked  by  the  death-noose.  Two  of 
them  leaped  high  in  the  air  from  the  gallows,  to  hasten 
their  presence  before  an  unreconciled  and  avenging  God. 
For  the  crimes  of  these  men  self-banishment  was  considered 
no  atonement.  Thousands  of  dollars  were  expended  in-  the 
pursuit  of  those  who  fled  hundreds  of  miles  to  escape  this 
merciless  and  inevitable  retribution.  When  they  felt  safe 
in  their  isolated  retreats,  the  hand  of  the  Vigilants  would 
fall  upon  them,  and  they  would  find  graves,  unshrived 
and  unmourned,  wherever  the  ministers  of  justice  crossed 
their  path.  Some  had  climbed  the  narrow  passes  to  Ida  ho 
and  Oregon,  others  had  sought  for  refuge  in  California, 


NO   ESCAPE  FROM  THE    VIGILANTERS.          237 

and  even  South  America  was  tried  as  a  retreat  from  this 
resistless  current  of  vengeance.  All,  all  was  fruitless. 
The  solemn  judgment  of  the  unseen  tribunal  must  be 
executed,  though  the  ends  of  the  earth  had  to  be  searched 
for  the  guilty  victim.  Not  only  justice  inflexibly  de- 
manded it,  but  common  safety  was  equally  imperative 
in  exacting  that  none,  once  condemned,  should  escape. 
They  could  infest  the  thousand  miles  of  unpeopled  plains 
and  mountain-canons  between  here  and  the  States,  where 
the  ministers  of  justice  must  sometimes  travel ;  but  not 
one  was  left  to  renew  the  vengeance  of  crime.  They 
made  themselves  and  the  public  safe  by  ceaseless  pur- 
suit, until  the  murderer  lived  only  where  all  are  judged 
in  righteousness.  Nor  is  their  work  wholly  of  the  past 
Although  unseen  and  unknown,  their  sleepless  eyes  guard 
the  Far  West  with  tireless  vigilance.  No  desperado  can 
ascend  the  Missouri  without  his  name,  description,  and 
antecedents  either  preceding  or  coming  with  him,  and 
every  settlement  will  have  its  faithful  sentinels  to  chal- 
lenge him  on  his  arrival.  There  is  no  pomp  or  parade  in 
their  proceedings,  and  most  who  would  fear  them  nat- 
urally suppose  that  they  have  disbanded  as  an  organiza- 
tion ;  tut  the  hapless  rogue  who  lands  in  Montana  will 
ha-ve  the  ardor  of  his  hopes  speedily  chilled  by  some  un- 
kntfwn  friend  bidding  him  good-by  and  suggesting  that 
he  depart  without  delay.  No  explanation  is  given,  none 
is  needed,  and  Montana  loses  a  citizen  she  can  better 
spare  ^than  keep.  Many  miles  from  this  place  I  saw  a 
doomed  man — doomed  to  death  by  this  matchless  human 
agency,  and  conscious  of  it.  He  was  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  law.  He  could  have  escaped,  but  dared  not, 
for  around  him  were  the  silent  and  unknown  sentinels  of  a 
tribune  that  has  no  technicalities  in  its  trials.  He  may 
escape  the  cobwebs  of  the  civil  law,  but  the  world  is  too 

21* 


238        RESTORATION  OF  ORDER  AND   SAFETY. 

small  to  afford  him  an  asylum,  and  he  lives  from  day  to 
day  in  hopeless  despair.  Ere  long  he  will  surely  go  un- 
wept to  his  final  resting-place,  and  none  will  inquire  why 
he  has  made  an  untimely  exit. 

Such  is  a  brief,  and  necessarily  imperfect,  history  of  the 
triumph  of  justice  in  Montana.  The  civil  courts  are  now 
in  operation,  but,  without  the  power  of  the  Vigil anters, 
crime  would  soon  regain  the  ascendency.  Their  organiza- 
tion is  maintained  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  courts,  and  to 
reach  out  the  arms  of  justice  where  the  civil  power  is  un- 
equal to  the  task.  Should  the  law  ever  prove  too  feeble 
for  the  support  of  order,  then  will  three  thousand  men 
guard  the  public  safety.  So  inflexible  have  they  been, 
that  no  means,  no  ties,  no  circumstances,  could  shield 
the  guilty.  One  of  their  own  number  was  found  to  have 
sought  shelter  from  just  punishment  in  their  "  circle," 
and  he  was  summarily  executed.  In  another  instance  the 
friends  of  the  condemned  proposed  to  make  restitution 
of  stolen  property,  if  the  sentence  could  be  changed  from 
death  to  banishment ;  but  the  criminal  was  one  of  the 
robbers'  band,  and  the  restitution  was  made  by  the  Yigi- 
lanters,  and  the  robber  sent  to  his  grave.  In  three  years  of 
operations,  covering  nearly  one  hundred  executions,  this 
organization  is  not  to-day  charged,  by  friend  or  foe,  with 
partiality  or  prejudice,  or  with  a  single  unjust  punishment. 
Sternly,  patiently,  untiringly,  it  has  prosecuted  its  unwel- 
come labor,  and  its  history  is  but  the  history  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  virtue,  order,  and  justice  in  Montana. 


LETTER   XXY. 

A  Political  Mandamus. — Opening  of  a  Mountain  Political  Cam- 
paign.— Western  People. — Their  Generosity  and  Prodigality. 
— Extravagance  of  Prosperous  Times. — The  Kestless  Prospecter. 
— Sunday  in  Virginia  City. — Street-Auctions. — Cheap  John 
on  Eastern  Notions. — Shepherds  get  astray. — Sunday  in  Union 
City.— The  Children  of  the  Village.— Departure  of  Little  Eva. 
— Her  Affecting  Farewell. — Little  Alice. — Her  Theological 
Disputation. — Corraled  in  the  Mountains  by  Indians  and  Low 
Water. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  Aug.  12,  1867. 
As  I  have  been  absent  from  our  little  mountain-city  of 
cabins  but  twice  since  I  arrived  here,  and  then  less  than  a 
day  each  time,  I  cannot  be  expected  to  write  about  general 
affairs  in  the  Territory.  During  the  six  weeks  I  have  been 
in  Montana  I  have  not  rotated  outside  of  a  circle  of  eight 
miles  from  this  place;  but  the  Union  Territorial  Committee 
have  issued  a  peremptory  mandamus  directing  me  to  put 
on  the  political  harness  again ;  and  by  the  late  papers  I 
find  that  I  am  to  speak  once  a  day,  commencing  on  Thurs- 
day next,  until  the  election  on  the  first  Monday  of  Septem- 
ber, and  must  often  travel  from  forty  to  sixty  miles  each 
day.  I  have  not  the  remotest  idea  where  most  of  the  ap- 
pointments are,  as  many  of  the  names  of  the  cities  (three 
cabins  constitute  a  city  here)  I  had  never  so  much  as 
heard  of  before.  As  it  was  my  purpose  some  time  this 
summer  to  visit  the  leading  mining-districts  of  the  Terri- 
tory, I  shall  do  so  while  the  political  campaign  is  in  pro- 
gress, as  it  will  afford  the  best  possible  opportunity  to 

(  239  ) 


240      WESTERN  GENEROSITY  AND   PRODIGALITY. 

mingle  with  the  people  and  acquire  reliable  information 
relative  to  the  wondrous  mineral  wealth  of  Montana.  I 
made  my  first  appearance  before  a  mountain-audience  on 
Thursday  last,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  speaking 
there  was  a  degree  of  order  and  attention  that  Eastern 
audiences  could  often  imitate  with  profit. 

I  have  seen  the  Far-Western  people  in  almost  every 
phase  of  life,  and  I  have  never,  in  a  single  instance,  found 
respectful  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  stranger  met  in  any 
other  way  than  with  a  just,  if  not  a  generous,  measure  of 
respect.  I  have  already  written  of  their  horse-races,  their 
theatres,  their  churches,  their  reading-rooms,  and  their 
proverbial  hospitality.  That  they  are  merciless  on  "  bilks" 
and  pretenders  generally,  is  true;  but  no  matter  how 
humble  the  straightforward  visitor  may  be,  he  is  received 
with  the  warmest  cordiality,  and  will  meet  with  generous 
hearts  and  welcome  boards  wherever  he  may  find  the 
camp  of  the  miner.  Every  settlement  in  Montana,  and 
every  city  as  well,  is  but  a  mining-camp.  Yirginia  City 
is  but  the  centre  of  the  great  Alder  camp ;  and  Helena  is 
the  same  for  the  various  gulches  which  surround  it.  They 
are  sustained  solely  by  the  mining-interests  about  them, 
and  the  cities  advance  or  recede  with  feverish  haste  just  as 
the  mines  improve  or  degenerate.  There  are  agricultural 
settlements  in  Deer  Lodge,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Gal- 
latin  ;  but  there  is  not  a  farmer — or  ranchman,  as  they  are 
called — who  has  not  his  claims,  or  fractions  of  claims,  on 
various  gulches  and  leads,  and  he  is  merely  farming  to 
live  until  his  slumbering  wealth  is  developed  by  others 
more  able  than  himself. 

As  a  rule,  the  successful  gulch-miners  are  most  improvi- 
dent; and  of  the  scores  of  men  who  came  here  without  a 
dollar  and  made  from  ten  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  gold 
out  of  Alder  Gulch,  there  are  very  few  indeed  who  could 


THE  RESTLESS  PROSPECTER.  241 

to-day  command  one  thousand  dollars,  while  most  of  them 
are  utterly  "broke."  Their  necessary  expenses  were  very 
heavy,  but  their  needless  expenses  were  usually  much 
heavier.  A  newspaper  would  bring  from  one  to  two 
dollars  in  gold  in  the  days  of  gulch-mining,  but  three 
years  ago.  A  letter  usually  cost  five  dollars.  Flour  cost 
from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  a  pound  ;  and  everything  else 
in  proportion.  A  cat  would  sell  very  readily  in  the  days 
of  gulch-mining  for  one  hundred  dollars  in  gold,  and  the 
display  of  pets  of  any  kind  was  one  of  the  easiest  means 
of  reaching  the  miner's  well-filled  buckskin  bag.  Then 
came  the  gambler's  claim,  and  the  fever  of  speculation, 
•and  what  the  indulgence  of  the  appetites  left  was  mostly 
sure  to  be  swept  into  the  faro-bank  or  frittered  away  in 
some  fancy  purchase. 

This  restless,  profligate,  and  heterogeneous  mass  has 
long  since  departed  from  Alder  Gulch.  Many  of  their 
rude  and  now  tenantless  cabins  remain ;  and  the  continu- 
ous ridges  through  the  gulch  for  more  than  ten  miles 
tell  of  the  thousands  of  sturdy  men  who  here  delved  for 
the  precious  metal,  gathered  it  in  fabulous  sums,  and 
scattered  it  as  lavishly  as  they  found  it.  Now  most  of 
them  are  spending  their  time  in  prospecting,  and  earn  a 
precarious  subsistence  by  resuming  legitimate  labor  when 
stern  necessity  leaves  them  no  other  channel  through 
which  to  find  bread.  I  have  already  spoken  of  this  class 
of  men.  How  much  they  do  for  the  world,  and  how  little 
for  themselves,  but  few  can  appreciate.  It  is  to  them  that 
the  nation  at  large,  and  all  who  profit  by  mining-opera- 
tions, are  indebted  for  unlocking  the  vast  wealth  of  the 
mountains ;  but  the  fruits  of  their  labors  are  in  most 
cases  gathered  by  strangers.  They  sow  through  merci- 
less storms  and  spiteful  snows,  while  others  reap  in  the 
sunshine  of  golden  harvest. 


242  SUNDAY  IN    VIRGINIA    CITY. 

Although  there  seems  to  be  general  safety  to  person 
and  property  in  Montana,  and  a  leaven  of  healthy  moral 
tone  apparently  pervades  all  circles,  the  outward  signs  of 
morality,  as  recognized  in  the  East,  are  among  the  novelties 
of  the  Territory.  Sunday  is  the  main  business-day  of  Vir- 
ginia City.  On  that  day  the  gambler's  saloon,  licensed  by 
law,  is  gayest  and  receives  its  largest  profits.  Most  of 
the  stores  are  open  and  drive  their  briskest  trade  on  that 
day.  The  streets  swarm  with  miners,  who  gather  in  their 
week's  wages  or  "clean  up"  in  their  pockets,  and  com- 
merce readily  accommodates  itself  to  their  wishes  and 
wants.  Every  corner  in  the  main  street  has  an  auction- 
eer, whose  stentorian  voice  is  raised  to  its  utmost  volume 
to  compete  with  that  of  his  rival  who  is  bawling  out  his 
bargains  on  the  opposite  corner ;  and  through  the  crowd 
the  horse-jockey  and  his  mounted  salesman  ride,  John- 
Grilpin-like,  expecting  every  one  to  look  out  for  his  own 
neck  and  limbs.  "Cheap  John,"  whose  sign  I  have  seen 
in  every  Western  town,  deals  out  heavy  pepper-and-salt 
suits  for  thirty-five  dollars  each,  and  sends  a  score  or  two 
of  the  mountaineers  home  every  Sunday  in  his  favorite 
costume.  He  had  trouble  in  fitting  me  when  I  called  for  a 
suit,  and  invited  me  to  come  on  the  following  Sunday,  when 
he  would  open  his  new  goods.  In  answer  to  my  inquiry 
whether  Monday  would  not  answer  as  well,  he  gave  me  a 
look  of  pity,  as  if  he  considered  me  totally  unfitted  for  life 
in  this  region,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  I  would  soon 
"get  over  that  Eastern  notion."  Of  the  six  mills  in  this 
section,  that  of  the  Montana  Gold  and  Silver  Mining  Com- 
pany is  the  only  one  that  suspends  operations  on  Sunday- 
Such  a  thing  as  a  sermon  I  have  neither  heard  nor  heard 
of  since  I  have  been  in  Union  City.  Occasionally  a  stray 
shepherd  comes  along  to  look  after  his  lost  sheep  wander- 
ing through  the  mountains;  but  as  a  rule  the  shepherd 


SUNDAY  IN   UNION  CITY.  243 

gets  lost  among  the  sheep,  and  seems  to  prefer  glittering 
nuggets  of  gold  from  the  gulches  and  mines  to  the  prom- 
ised glittering  stars  in  his  future  crown  for  the  salvation 
of  souls.  I  have  had  bishops  and  divines  at  my  frugal 
board;  but  they  were  merely  viewing  the  confines  of  their 
commands,  and  did  not  tarry  to  expound  the  gospel. 

There  is  now  some  show  of  Sunday  in  Union  City,  but 
by  most  Eastern  observers  it  would  be  regarded  as  a  micro- 
scopic view.  The  miners  and  other  laborers  reluctantly 
leave  their  work,  and  the  mill  stands  in  apparently  uneasy 
solitude.  Here  may  be  seen  an  innocent  game  of  quoits  ; 
there  a  pair  of  bronzed  arms  kneading  the  bread  for  the 
coming  week ;  yonder  the  sounds  of  the  axe  tell  that  there 
will  be  a  bountiful  supply  of  firewood  to  serve  through 
the  days  allotted  to  regular  labor;  and  thus  throughout 
the  city  the  odd  chores  are  done  up  to  save  what  is  re- 
garded as  the  more  precious  time  when  wages  can  be 
earned.  Some  gather  in  their  ponies — for  many  miners 
keep  their  ponies,  letting  them  graze  and  roam  at  pleas- 
ure until  wanted,  when  they  seldom  search  in  vain  for 
them — and  take  a  pleasure-ride ;  others,  armed  with  pick 
and  shovel,  devote  the  day  to  prospecting  for  new  mines. 
There  is  no  Sunday-school,  no  church,  no  public  observance 
of  religious  ceremonies  in  the  city. 

Two  bright-faced  little  girls,  one  rollicking  boy.  and  one 
infant  constitute  the  children  of  the  town ;  and  one  of  them 
drew  tears  from  eyes  unused  to  the  melting  mood  as  she 
twined  her  little  arms  about  our  necks,  from  house  to  house, 
and  kissed  us  all  a  long  good-by.  She  was  the  fairest  and 
most  fragile  flower  of  the  mountains.  When  she  came  to 
gladden  the  little  cabin  on  the  hill-side,  she  was  tried  in  the 
scales,  and  the  needle  quivered  about  the  figure  three,  as 
if  unwilling  to  fix  that  low  standard  to  the  little  lump  of 
mortality  that  filled  the  swaddling  clothes;  but  in  obedi- 


244  DEPARTURE  OF  LITTLE  EVA. 

ence  to  the  laws  of  gravity  it  pointed  to  three  pounds  as 
the  "heft"  of  the  little  stranger.  The  pure  breezes  of  five 
brief  mountain-summers  had  fanned  her  marble  cheeks 
when  I  came,  and  infused  some  strength  into  her  still 
delicate  frame.  Lovely  and  affectionate  in  disposition 
as  her  finely  chiseled  face  was  beautiful,  and  fastidious 
in  her  dress  as  her  most  cultivated  Eastern  sisters,  she 
was  as  a  bright  sunbeam  wherever  she  wandered,  and  the 
horny  hand  of  toil  would  steal  a  fond  caress  as  she  tripped 
along.  Each  day  I  claimed  and  received  a  portion  of  her 
companionship ;  and  I  only  knew  how  much  I  prized  her 
daily  prattling  when  she  was  about  to  start  for  "the 
States."  She  knew  no  home  but  Union  City,  and  to  her 
the  whole  world  was  embraced  within  the  five  mountain- 
cliffs  which  shut  us  in  from  even  the  sight  of  a  habitation 
or  the  evidence  of  fellowship.  She  had  already  passed 
the  severe  ordeal  of  her  "  aunties"  and  "  grandmothers" 
when  she  reached  me,  and  her  soft  blue  eyes  were  flooded 
as  she  gave  me  her  last  embrace  and  kiss  and  promised 
as  usual  to  come  again  to  see  me  "the  morrow  day."  I 
gave  her  my  best  equipage — a  brace  of  sober  oxen  and  a 
homely  cart — for  her  journey  to  the  coach-office,  and  there 
were  many  longing  looks  and  tender  regrets  as  the  slow 
but  steady  cortege  passed  around  "  Lincoln  Avenue"  to  dis- 
appear behind  the  abrupt  bluff  beyond.  Strong  men,  long 
used  to  rugged  mountain-life,  leaned  upon  their  picks  and 
spades  as  little  Eva  passed  from  among  them,  and  thought 
more  of  "home"  than  they  dared  to  tell.  Alice,  her  only 
companion,  was  bowed  in  inconsolable  grief,  her  red  dishev- 
eled locks  streamed  in  the  air,  and  her  sobs  broke  painfully 
upon  all  as  she  followed  her  playmate  until  the  last  fare- 
well was  given,  when  she  sought  the  child's  last  refuge 
from  grief  in  a  hearty  cry.  To  her  it  seemed  as  if  the 
sun  had  gone  out  in  perpetual  darkness,  and  the  future 


"CORRALED"   IN  THE  MOUNTAINS.  245 

appeared  as  only  a  dreary,  withered  waste.  Alice  is  a 
bright  waif  with  more  than  a  common  share  of  nature's 
better  qualities,  and  she  floats  down  life's  unseen  current 
with  a  smile  and  a  kind  heart  for  all.  We  have  a  per- 
sistent difference  in  our  theology,  as  she  insists  that  her 
aunt  Mary  was  her  creator,  while  I  have  maintained  that 
we  have  all  a  common  and  an  infinite  author  of  our  being. 
She  staggered  at  times  in  her  belief,  but  finally  relapsed 
hopelessly  into  her  original  conviction,  because  the  common 
Creator  had  not  created  sausages — a  favorite  dish  of  hers, 
and  of  whose  origin  she  desired  to  be  informed.  She  is 
now  the  pet  of  the  city,  and  each  day  brings  her  a  fullness 
of  pleasure. 

It  has  been  my  fortune  to  get  "  corraled"  every  now  and 
then  in  my  journey.  Between  Indians  and  storms,  I  was 
detained  three  weeks  in  Denver ;  and  now  the  elements 
and  the  Indians  seem  to  combine  again  to  prevent  my 
return  home.  The  Missouri  River,  which  was  navigable 
last  fall  until  October,  has  been  falling  so  rapidly  that  it  is 
feared  no  more  boats  will  get  up  to  Port  Benton,  and  the 
Indians  have  practical  possession  of  the  overland  route. 
As  things  are  now,  I  have  but  one  chance  to  get  back  with 
any  show  of  safety  this  fall,  and  that  is  by  pack-mules 
over  the  Rocky  range  to  the  Columbia  River,  thence  to 
the  Oregon  coast,  and  around  by  San  Francisco  to  New 
York — a  journey  of  nearly  two  months.  I  borrow  no 
trouble,  however,  on  account  of  these  mishaps.  I  can 
stand  it  in  the  mountains  as  long  as  the  government  and 
the  people  on  the  line  can  stand  the  Indians  on  the  over- 
land route,  and  hope  to  come  out  of  the  trial  improved  in 
health. 


LETTER    XXVI. 

The  City  of  Hoggum. — How  it  got  its  Name. — The  Hoggum  Hust- 
ings. —  An  Unsympathizing  Audience  and  an  Uninspired 
Speaker. — A  Hospitable  Pennsylvania  Farmer. — A  Hot  Eide 
across  the  Prairies  and  Cliffs. — Rest  and  Refreshments  on  the 
Madison. — The  Madison  Valley. — The  Devastation  of  the  Grass- 
hoppers.— Crossing  the  Hot  Springs  Divide. — A  Continued  Belt 
of  Gold-Leads. — Proposed  Military  and  Prospecting  Campaign 
into  the  Yellowstone. — The  M.  M.,  or  Montana  Militia. — How 
they  deal  with  the  Indians. — Hot  Springs  District. — The  Quartz- 
Mills  and  Mines. — Obstacles  to  Successful  Mining. — A  Political 
Meeting. — Interesting  Discussion. — Rocky  Mountain  Audiences 
and  Orators. — Pleasant  Entertainment  at  Lower  Hot  Springs. — 
.A  Mountain-Dairy. — Prices  of  Milk  and  Butter. — Dinner  in  the 
Gallatin  Valley. — A  Missouri  Spinster  the  Hostess. — Welcomed 
to  Bozeman. — Another  Political  Meeting. — Entertained  by  the 
Lawyer  of  the  City. — One  Room  for  Chamber,  Dining-room,  and 
Office. — Down  Gallatin  Valley. — Its  Beauty  and  Fruitfulness. — 
Political  Meeting  at  Gallatin  City. — But  One  Republican  present. 
— The  Head  of  the  Missouri. — Another  Hot  Drive  to  Hoggum. 

HOGGUM,  MONTANA  TEKR.,  August  20,  1867. 
THE  city  bearing  the  romantic  title  of  Hoggum  is  a  little 
mining-camp  near  the  Missouri  River,  some  thirty  miles 
below  the  junction  of  the  Madison,  Jefferson,  and  Gallatin. 
The  mining-gulch  in  which  it  is  situated  was  discovered 
last  spring;  and  it  is  charged  that  a  few  parties  "  hogged 
up"  the  whole  of  the  pay-claims  before  the  usual  stampede 
thereto  was  fairly  inaugurated,  and  the  disappointed  ad- 
venturers named  the  new  camp  Hoggum  and  turned  away 
from  it  in  disgust.  A  little  branch  camp  near  the  main 
(246) 


AN  UNSYMPATHTZING   AUDIENCE.  247 

one  is  known  only  as  "  Cheatem ;"  and  the  whole  outfit  is 
regarded  by  the  itinerant  miners  as  a  sort  of  fraud  upon 
the  profession.  Some  of  the  more  poetical  Montanians 
have  endeavored  to  change  the  name  of  the  city  to 
Springville ;  but  when  they  placard  the  place  for  public 
meetings  they  go  back  to  the  original  title.  I  had  spoken 
daily  for  nearly  a  week,  and  traveled  from  thirty-five  to 
forty  miles  each  day  over  hard  divides,  under  scorching 
suns,  and  with  a  miserable  team,  and  I  did  not  regret  par- 
ticularly that  I  was  behind  time  in  reaching  Hoggum,  as 
I  hoped  thereby  to  escape  a  speech.  It  was  fully  eight 
o'clock  when  I  arrived  there,  and  the  deserted  streets  of  the 
camp  plainly  indicated  that,  if  a  public  meeting  had  been 
thought  of,  the  idea  had  been  abandoned.  The  city  was, 
however,  crowded  with  brawny  miners,  most  of  them  in 
and  about  the  rude  cabin  saloons  which  comprise  nearly 
one-half  the  buildings  in  the  camp ;  and,  as  they  had  fairly 
set  in  to  their  favorite  games  of  poker  and  all-fours,  I  sup- 
posed that  they  could  not  be  congregated  for  so  tame  an  en- 
tertainment as  a  political  speech  from  a  worn-out  stumper. 
But  I  was  not  to  escape  in  that  way.  A  prominent 
Republican  merchant,  with  whom  I  stopped,  had  a  bonfire 
blazing  before  his  store  in  a  few  minutes,  a  box  was  rolled 
out  for  a  rostrum,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  over  a  hun- 
dred miners  had  gathered  around  the  door.  Begrimed 
with  dust,  and  tired,  sore,  and  hungry,  I  mounted  the  stand 
and  waded  through  a  short  speech,  to  which  two-thirds  of 
the  audience  listened  with  sullen  silence,  and  the  other 
portion  put  in  occasional  cheers  at  stated  intervals,  appar- 
ently as  a  matter  of  duty,  and  usually  without  reference 
to  the  fitness  of  the  moment.  The  truth  was  that  two- 
thirds  of  niy  audience  were  Missourians,  or  Democrats  of 
like  proclivities,  and  they  attended  the  meeting  merely  to 
vary  their  usual  evening  routine  of  cards.  It  is  possible, 


248      A    HOSPITABLE  PENNSYLVANIA   FARMER. 

too,  that  they  hoped  to  have  a  row,  as  they  had  enjoyed  that 
"  delectable  pleasure"  the  evening  before  (Sunday),  when 
the  regular  Democratic  meeting  of  the  campaign  had  been 
held  there,  and,  as  there  were  not  enough  Republicans  in 
the  camp  to  get  up  a  shindy,  they  got  it  up  on  their  own 
hook,  and  proceeded  to  mutilate  each  others'  mugs.  The 
meeting  being  over,  the  audience  adjourned  to  the  differ- 
ent saloons,  and  only  the  excuse  of  indisposition  exoner- 
ated me  creditably  from  imbibing  Hoggum  strychnine.  I 
hastened  to  the  ranch  of  an  old  Pennsylvanian,  two  miles 
distant,  on  the  river-bank,  and  was  welcomed  with  the  pro- 
verbial hospitality  of  the  Far-Western  people.  Mr.  Yandil- 
berg,  from  Washington  county,  Pennsylvania,  has  the  finest 
farm  I  have  found  in  the  beautiful  valleys  of  Montana ;  and 
his  was  the  first  modern  house  and  furnishing  I  have  met 
with  in  the  rural  districts  of  the  Territory.  His  farm  lies  on 
the  river-bottom,  and  his  large  fields  waved  with  the  most 
luxuriant  and  bountiful  crops  of  wheat,  oats,  and  barley.  I 
felt  this  morning  like  staying  a  day  with  him,  regardless 
of  political  appointments ;  but  I  am  in  charge  of  the  Cen- 
tral Committee,  the  driver  is  under  positive  orders  to  de- 
liver me  in  Helena  this  morning,  and  soon  I  must  start  out 
for  another  hot,  dusty,  and  most  tedious  journey  of  thirty- 
five  miles,  to  be  dumped  out  of  the  wagon  and  put  up  to 
speak  in  the  principal  city  of  Montana.  But  I  shall  not 
borrow  trouble,  as  it  will  neither  cool  the  air  nor  inspire 
oratory. 

Excepting  the  hard  drives  over  parched  and  dusty  prai- 
ries and  bluffs  almost  blistered  by  the  pitiless  rays  of  the 
sun,  the  trip  has  been  rather  a  pleasant  one,  and  abound- 
ing in  interest.  I  left  Virginia  City  on  horseback  at  noon, 
to  reach  an  appointment  thirty-five  miles  distant  that  even- 
ing. To  escape  the  dust,  we  took  an  Indian  trail,  and 
traveled  twenty  miles  without  seeing  a  residence.  Only 


THE  MADISON    VALLEY.  249 

the  abandoned  and  well-nigh  decayed  ranch  of  Slade  re- 
lieved the  uniform  garb  of  nature,  now  withered  beneath 
the  intensely  hot  suns  of  the  heated  term,  save  where  some 
little  stream  defied  the  drought  and  preserved  the  verdure 
of  the  dwarfed  growth  along  its  banks.  The  Yigilanters 
had  summarily  ended  the  mortal  career  of  Slade  by  swing- 
ing him  to  a  cross-beam,  and  his  rude  grave  is  still  marked 
by  a  pile  of  stones  close  by  his  deserted  ranch.  A  fine 
spring,  carefully  walled  in  by  the  hands  of  the  desperado, 
refreshed  my  Democratic  guide  and  myself,  and  from  thence 
for  ten  miles  we  did  not  find  cool  water.  The  heat  was 
fearfully  intense,  and  even  the  usual  welcome  breeze  that 
tempers  the  hot  rays  of  the  prairie  was  utterly  forgetful 
of  its  duty.  Occasionally  we  would  get  into  a  little  clus- 
ter of  alder-bushes  where  water  had  been,  and  stop  for  a  few 
minutes  to  enjoy  the  shade,  and  once  or  twice  little  streams 
crossed  our  trail,  but  were  too  warm  to  satisfy  thirst.  We 
could  refresh  our  dripping  horses,  but  could  not  take 
time  to  rest,  as,  with  two  long,  steep  spurs  of  the  mount- 
ains to  cross,  we  had  no  time  to  spare.  After  twenty 
miles  had  been  traveled,  we  came  out  on  Meadow  Creek, 
near  to  the  Madison  River,  and  found  a  pleasant  ranchman, 
clear,  soft  mountain-water,  plenty  of  ice,  and  sweet  bread 
and  butter.  It  was  one  of  the  most  grateful  entertainments 
I  had  enjoyed  for  a  long  time ;  and,  after  an  hour  of  rest 
and  pasturage  for  our  horses,  we  started  to  climb  the  last 
divide  into  the  Hot  Springs  district. 

Meadow  Creek  comes  from  the  mountain-range  north  of 
the  Madison  River,  and  empties  into  the  river  just  as  it 
turns  from  the  Madison  Valley  to  rush  off  through  a  deep, 
narrow  canon.  Nearly  the  whole  valley  is  visible  from 
Meadow  Creek,  and  just  now  its  aspect  is  that  of  one  vast 
field  of  desolation.  The  table-lands,  which  have  never 
yet  been  cultivated,  are  parched  into  a  pale  pink  color, 

22* 


250        DEVASTATION  OF  THE  GRASSHOPPERS. 

and  the  only  sign  of  life  is  a  narrow  green  line  that  winds 
up  the  valley,  following  the  serpentine  course  of  the 
river.  But  even  where  the  moisture  from  the  river  was 
sufficient  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  vegetation,  the  grasshop- 
pers devastated  almost  every  field  and  garden.  With  the 
first  soft  breath  of  spring  they  came  up  out  of  the  ground 
— where  the  eggs  had  been  deposited  the  year  before — by 
millions,  and  marched  in  countless  throngs  wherever  any- 
thing green  and  succulent  invited  them.  Here  and  there 
a  field  or  farm  escaped  their  destructive  visits,  without  any 
visible  reason  for  their  forbearance ;  but,  as  a  rule,  they 
cleaned  the  fields  and  gardens  to  the  very  earth,  and  as 
often  as  the  roots  would  start  out  fresh  stems  or  leaves 
they  would  renew  the  attack,  and  keep  repeating  it  while 
anything  grew  to  tempt  their  insatiate  appetites,  until 
wounded  and  exhausted  vegetation  gave  up  the  unequal 
contest.  The  potato-crop  alone  they  have  spared,  and  it 
will  be  very  large;  but  the  Madison  valley,  one  of  the 
most  fertile  prairies  of  the  mountains,  will  not  harvest  as 
much  wheat,  barley,  and  oats  as  were  sown  last  spring. 
Nor  does  the  terrible  plague  end  with  present  destruction. 
The  now  full-grown  grasshoppers  have  again  deposited 
their  eggs,  and  the  ranchmen  have  fair  notice  that  they 
may  sow  next  season,  but  cannot  reap.  I  learn  that  these 
winged  pests  usually  disappear  after  the  third  year,  but 
seldom  sooner. 

In  crossing  the  eastern  fork  of  Meadow  Creek  I  found  the 
first  evidence  of  the  work  of  the  miner.  The  water  was 
muddy  and  carrying  the  sluiced  earth  down  to  the  river. 
Most  of  the  leads  discovered  in  the  Hot  Springs  district 
are  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  divide ;  but  I  noticed  dur- 
ing the  whole  journey  the  evidences  of  continuous  gold- 
leads  running  in  a  direct  northeast  line  from  Summit  to 
Hot  Springs,  a  distance  of  nearly  forty  miles.  Where  the 


THE  MONTANA   MILITIA.  251 

belt  starts  on  the  mountains  beyond  Summit  City,  fully  a 
score  of  good  leads  are  more  or  less  developed,  and  some  of 
them  are  of  wonderful  richness.  From  that  point  the  leads 
seem  to  be  in  an  unvarying  line,  regardless  of  the  confused 
formation  of  the  many  cliffs  they  cross  at  all  angles,  and 
end  only  in  the  great  foot-hills  which  divide  the  Gallatin 
Valley  from  the  broken  mountains  on  the  west.  That  the 
belt  ends  even  there,  I  think  improbable  ;  for  the  range 
dividing  the  Gallatin  from  the  Yellowstone  "  prospects" 
in  almost  every  gulch,  and  undoubted  evidences  of  the  ex- 
istence of  rich  leads  are  abundant,  not  only  on  the  Yellow- 
stone range,  but  as  far  beyond  as  the  adventurous  pros- 
pecter  has  braved  the  scalping-knife  of  the  savage.  I 
hazard  little  in  saying  that  before  five  years  there  will  be 
one  succession  of  mining-camps  from  the  Rocky  range 
southwest  of  Virginia  clear  through  the  Gallatin  and  Yel- 
lowstone ranges  on  to,  or  beyond,  Wind  River  and  Big 
Horn  Mountains.  In  this  I  do  not  rely  upon  conjecture 
merely  ;  for  hurried  prospects  have  been  made  in  the  re- 
gions named,  and  in  every  instance  satisfactory  results 
have  been  obtained. 

The  Montana  militia  are  about  to  start  out  on  an 
offensive  campaign  against  the  Indians,*  and  I  noticed 
that  every  company  is  supplied  with  pans  and  other  im- 
plements to  test  the  quality  of  the  diggings  as  they  clear 
the  Indian  from  their  path.  There  will  be  some  five 
hundred  of  them,  and  there  are  not  enough  hostile  In- 
dians in  the  mountains  to  impede  the  progress  of  that 
number  of  mountain-volunteers.  There  are  several  thou- 
sand of  the  savages — enough  to  defy  General  Sherman 


*  This  expedition  was  stopped  by  order  of  General  Terry,  com- 
mander of  the  military  district.  Had  it  been  allowed  to  proceed, 
the  country  would  have  received  reliable  information  of  the  min- 
eral and  agricultural  wealth  of  the  Yellowstone  region. 


252  HOT  SPRINGS  DISTRICT. 

with  over  eight  thousand  men;  but  they  will  not  raid 
upon  five  hundred  earnest  men  who  are  not  cramped,  as 
the  savages  well  know,  by  the  sentimentalism  of  Sherman's 
orders.  When  they  first  went  upon  the  border,  after  the 
Indians  had  murdered  Bozeman  and  stolen  a  large  amount 
of  stock,  a  professedly  friendly  Indian  stole  one  of  their 
horses.  They  traced  him  out,  surrounded  the  camp,  and  de- 
manded the  thief.  He  was  promptly  surrendered,  because 
the  chief  knew  that  the  militia  meant  ''business,"  and  he 
was  made  to  dance  a  hasty  jig  on  nothing  under  the  limb 
of  a  cotton-tree,  in  sight  of  the  camp  of  his  tribe.  Inter- 
woven in  his  hair  they  found  the  tresses  from  a  white 
female  scalp  ;  and  the  Indian  was  scalped  to  add  another 
to  the  innumerable  evidences  of  the  atrocities  of  the  sav- 
ages, who  are  fed,  paid,  and  armed  by  the  government  to 
murder  the  defenseless  settlers  of  the  West.  These  brave 
volunteers,  each  of  whom  has  a  personal  account  to  settle 
with  the  savage,  are  about  to  prospect  the  Yellowstone, 
Wind  River,  and  Big  Horn  regions;  and  if  they  find 
gold,  as  I  doubt  not  they  will,  the  Indian  question  north 
of  the  Platte  and  east  of  the  mountains  will  speedily  settle 
itself.  How  it  will  be  settled,  the  bleaching  skeletons  or 
hurried  graves  of  the  red  man  alone  will  tell. 

I  reached  Sterling  City,  the  central  camp  of  the  Hot 
Springs  district,  about  sunset,  and  was  hospitably  wel- 
comed by  Mr.  Pratt,  of  the  New  York  and  Montana  Min- 
ing*Cornpany.  I  found  his  experience  but  the  old  story  of 
inflated  hopes,  the  most  unwise  direction  in  the  outset,  and 
disappointment  in  the  end.  To  save  the  cost  of  boiler  and 
engine  and  transportation,  they  erected  a  water-mill.  The 
water  failed,  and,  between  ditches,  flumes,  etc.,  they  have 
now  expended  ten  thousand  dollars  on  their  power,  and 
can  run  but  half  the  mill  in  the  dry  season,  and  stop  en- 
tirely in  severe  winter  weather.  They  are  now  about  to 


A    POLITICAL    DISCUSSION.  253 

erect  an  engine,  and  then  will  have  a  good  mill,  at  nearly 
double  cost.  Their  leads  developed  unsatisfactorily,  and 
they  do  nothing  now  but  custom-work  at  fifteen  dollars 
per  ton  in  currency.  They  have  numerous  good  leads 
around  them,  still  in  the  hands  of  the  miners,  and  they  are 
wisely  content  to  pay  expenses  now,  and  make  fortune  cer- 
tain, as  they  can,  in  the  future.  Professor  Ward  is  about 
finishing  a  first-class  mill  close  by.  It  is  conceived,  manu- 
factured, and  erected  on  the  most  scientific  principles,  and 
will  want  only  plenty  of  good  ores  to  give  it  a  high  meas- 
ure of  success.  The  district  has  the  ores,  but  the  com- 
pany has  not,  so  far  as  developed;  and  I  was  sorry  to  see 
so  magnificent  an  enterprise  measurably  or  wholly  at  the 
mercy  of  others.  The  Clark  mill  was  idle — cause,  want  of 
ore.  These  three  mills  are  in  the  midst  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  tons  of  good  ore,  and  in  a  district  where  mil- 
lions of  capital  will  soon  be  profitably  employed  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  precious  metal.  I  saw  ores  from  half  a  dozen 
leads,  all  of  which  have  large  strata  of  gold-bearing  rock 
and  are  easily  mined,  which  yield  from  forty  to  sixty 
dollars  per  ton,  and  some  of  them  yield  as  high  as  one 
hundred  dollars  per  ton.  In  the  midst  of  these  remarkable 
mines  there  is  not,  as  yet,  a  single  prosperous  mill,  for  the 
reason  that  the  mills  were  located,  as  a  rule,  on  speculative 
mines,  and  the  original  discoverers  still  own  the  valuable 
leads.  This  mutual  wrong  to  both  the  miner  and  the  capi- 
talist will  soon  be  overcome,  and  there  will  be  many  most 
successful  mining  companies  in  the  Hot  Springs  district. 

Soon  after  dark,  several  hundred  of  the  miners  gathered 
in  the  central  part  of  the  city,  and  we  devoted  the  even- 
ing to  a  free  discussion  of  national  politics  in  general  and 
Montana  politics  in  particular.  If  any  ambitious  Eastern 
orator  supposes  that  it  is  an  easy  task  to  declaim  to  the 
people  of  the  mountains,  and  that  any  sort  of  speech- 


254  UPPER  HOT  SPRINGS  DISTRICT. 

making  will  be  accepted  as  a  treat,  he  would  do  well  not  to 
attempt  to  carry  his  theory  into  practice.  1  have  never 
been  before  audiences  in  the  East  where  political  questions 
were  better  understood  than  by  the  people  who  compose 
public  meetings  in  Montana,  and  I  can  conceive  of  no 
worse  place  for  pretentious  stumpers  than  just  here.  They 
not  only  detect  the  want  of  fitness  for  the  task  of  enlight- 
ening them,  but  they  are  merciless  in  exposing  it  on  the 
spot.  Every  public  speaker  in  this  region  must  be  pre- 
pared for  any  questions  the  audience  may  see  fit  to  propose ; 
and  it  is  deemed  no  breach  of  propriety  for  a  Democrat  to 
get  up  at  a  Republican  meeting,  after  the  regular  speakers 
are  through,  and  reply  to  the  speeches.  This  was  done  at 
Sterling  -by  a  Democratic  candidate,  who  directed  his  an- 
swer to  Mr.  Claggett,  the  silver-tongued  orator  of  the 
mountains ;  and  I  have  never  listened  to  a  more  chaste,  elo- 
quent, and  logical  speech  than  was  his  reply.  Cavanaugh 
and  Sanders,  the  rival  candidates  for  Congress,  are  both 
singularly  gifted  on  the  stump,  and  as  skillful  as  able ;  and 
almost  every  portion  of  the  Territory  can  turn  out  cam- 
paigners who  would  rank  with  our  ablest  disputants  in  the 
old-settled  States.  Both  parties  seem  to  attend  all  political 
meetings,  and  the  speeches  here,  as  a  rule,  are  above  the 
average  of  Eastern  addresses  in  point  of  candor  and  re- 
spect for  political  differences. 

I  spent  most  of  the  next  day  in  visiting  the  mills  and 
mines  of  the  Upper  Hot  Springs  district,  and  there,  as 
everywhere  else  I  have  been  in  Montana,  I  was  bewildered 
by  the  profusion  of  mineral  wealth.  The  time  for  its  sys- 
tematic and  successful  development  seems  not  yet  at  hand, 
but  it  cannot  be  long  delayed.  The  interests  of  capital 
and  miners  need  only  to  be  harmonized  to  give  a  very  high 
measure  of  success  to  both.  So  far,  they  have  seemed  to 
be  in  antagonism — a  policy  mutually  disastrous ;  but  grad- 


A   MOUNTAIN- DAIRY.  255 

ually  they  are  progressing  toward  concerted  action.  When- 
ever it  is  once  known  here  that  Eastern  capitalists  cannot 
be  cheated  into  the  purchase  of  undeveloped  leads  at  enor- 
mous prices,  there  will  be  a  wholesome  change  in  the  man- 
agement of  mines.  They  will  be  developed  by  their  owners, 
under  the  encouraging  policy  of  the  mill-men,  and  capital 
can  then  be  invested  wisely  and  safely,  and  the  owners  of 
valuable  mines  will  realize  just  prices  for  them. 

As  my  next  appointment  was  in  Bozeman  City,  forty 
miles  distant,  over  two  hard  divides  or  mountain-spurs,  we 
concluded  to  shorten  the  trip  by  making  a  portion  of  it  in 
the  cool  of  the  evening.  Mr.  Muffly  had  overtaken  me  at 
Sterling  with  a  hack,  bringing  his  wife  and  Mrs.  McC.:  so 
we  had  a  party  of  five,  and  a  miserable  livery  team.  The 
first  evening,  we  went  down  to  the  Lower  Hot  Springs  dis- 
trict, where  the  more  recent,  and,  I  believe,  the  richest,  dis- 
coveries have  been  made  in  gold-leads.  A  mill  is  in  course 
of  erection,  and  three  prominent  leads  now  promise  an  in- 
exhaustible supply  of  first-class  ore  to  half  a  dozen  mills. 
We  stopped  at  a  ranch,  and  by  dark  several  other  way- 
farers had  joined  us,  to  lodge  for  the  night.  The  land- 
lady was  a  most  intelligent  and  agreeable  dame,  but  with- 
out a  maid  or  cook,  and  herself  confined  to  bed  by  a  dis- 
eased limb.  In  addition  to  lodging  the  many  travelers  on 
the  route,  she  keeps  thirty  cows — all  of  excellent  stock,  and 
in  the  best  of  order — and  raises  all  the  calves  of  the  herd. 
Her  butter  is  worth  from  sixty  cents  to  one  dollar  per  pound 
in  gold,  and  her  new  milk  sells  readily  at  thirty  cents  per 
quart.  Two  young  men  milked  the  cows  and  fed  the 
calves,  and  the  son  of  the  landlady  came  in  with  his  team 
about  sunset,  after  which  he  prepared  us  a  most  bountiful 
and  delicious  meal.  One  of  the  guests  was  a  returned 
Salmon-River  miner,  who  had  staked  and  lost  in  that  stam- 
pede ;  another  was  a  Gallatin  farmer,  out  on  a  four  days' 


256  THE  GALLATIN    VALLEY. 

journey  to  sell  a  part  of  his  crop ;  and  another  was  a  pros- 
pecter  in  search  of  his  truant  pony,  who  had  strayed  off 
while  the  master  was  industriously  panning  for  a  color  or 
a  prospect.  After  supper,  the  gentlemen  were  ushered 
into  the  spare  room  of  the  house,  in  one  end  of  which  a 
cheerful  fire  sparkled  in  the  large,  old-fashioned  chimney ; 
carefully-laid  ox-hides  made  a  soft  carpet  for  the  floor,  and 
the  robed  bunks  served  for  chairs  until  bedtime.  The 
ladies  had  a  regular  bed,  in  the  kitchen,  with  the  land- 
lady, and  all  were  comfortably  provided  for.  After  a  sound 
sleep  and  an  excellent  breakfast,  we  started  for  the  Gallatin 
Valley.  For  some  ten  miles  after  crossing  the  Madison 
River  we  were  gradually  ascending  the  divide.  The  bluffs 
were  broken  in  the  wildest  confusion,  and  thrown  up  in  the 
most  unique  and  varied  fashion,  running  in  every  possible 
direction,  and  sometimes  forming  the  most  unnatural  junc- 
tions. The  lower  or  table  lands  were  covered  with  the 
finest  growth  of  grass  I  have  seen  in  the  mountains,  but  it 
was  all  withered  by  the  continued  drought,  excepting  occa- 
sionally where  some  little  stream  preserved  the  life  of  vege- 
tation on  its  banks.  But,  notwithstanding  its  apparently 
dried-up  and  dead  condition,  the  grass  is  most  nutritious, 
and  stock  of  all  kinds  will  thrive  better  on  it  than  even  on 
the  finest  green  pastures  of  the  East.  On  this  dead  grass, 
oxen  will  winter  in  the  valleys  in  ordinary  winters,  and 
come  out  in  the  spring  excellent  beef.  During  unusually 
severe  winters,  like  the  last,  when  the  snow  was  so  deep 
that  cattle  could  not  graze,  many  are  lost,  and  all  come  out 
of  winter  poor ;  but  generally  they  thrive  well  without  hay. 
When  we  reached  the  top  of  the  divide,  the  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Gallatin  presented  itself  in  one  grand  view, 
with  clusters  of  large,  green  trees  on  the  river-banks,  the 
golden  wheat-fields,  blooming  gardens,  and  fresh  meadows 
which  mark  the  thrift  and  comfort  of  the  husbandman. 


WELCOMED   TO  BO  Z EM  AN.  257 

From  where  we  entered  the  valley,  it  was  fifteen  miles 
directly  across  it  to  Bozeman  City,  and  I  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  see  its  bountiful  crops  and  countless  herds. 
We  crossed  the  river  on  a  substantial  bridge,  and  a  few 
miles  beyond  stopped  before  a  neat-looking  cabin  to  get 
dinner  and  feed  our  horses.  None  of  the  family  were  at 
home  but  a  grown  daughter ;  but  she  informed  us  that  she 
would  promptly  prepare  our  meal.  After  caring  for  the 
horses,  I  went  into  the  house,  and  soon  found  that  one  of 
the  inevitable  Missourians  was  our  host.  Thousands  of 
them  came  here  in  the  early  part  of  the  war,  because  they 
were  too  cowardly  to  fight  with  Price  and  too  faithless 
to  oppose  him.  I  found  Brick  Pomeroy's  paper  the  only 
literature  in  the  house,  and  read  his  latest  justification  of 
the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  while  the  gentle 
Missouri  spinster  prepared  our  dinner.  If  I  had  not 
known  the  fact  before,  the  appearance  the  table  presented, 
when  ready  for  the  guests,  would  have  told  that  its  pre- 
siding genius  never  had  its  culture  farther  north  than  Mis- 
souri. We  had  light  warm  biscuits,  good  coffee,  butter 
and  fruits,  and  a  palatable  dish  of  new  potatoes  and  peas ; 
but  the  butter-dish  was  a  black  tin  pan  that  looked  as  if 
it  served  for  a  fat  lamp  in  the  evening,  and,  as  there  seemed 
to  be  but  two  cups  and  saucers  in  the  house,  they  were 
divided  around,  each  guest  getting  a  cup  or  a  saucer,  and 
with  it  a  greasy,  dirty,  battered  tin  for  a  cup  or  a  lamp- 
pan  for  a  saucer.  With  good  cooking,  it  was  made  so  re- 
pulsive by  the  marks  of  the  slattern  that  half  the  relish 
was  lost.  In  due  time  we  reached  Bozeman  City,  and 
were  kindly  welcomed  by  the  citizens, — a  deputation  meet- 
ing us  a  few  miles  out  of  the  little  village  of  a  dozen  cabins. 
Comfortable  quarters  were  provided  for  the  ladies  by  an 
extra  bed  spread  on  the  earthen  kitchen  floor,  and  I  was 
handed  over  as  the  guest  of  Mr.  Meredith  (nephew  of  Hon. 

23 


258  DOWN  GALLATIN    VALLEY. 

Win.  M.  Meredith,  of  Philadelphia),  who  is  the  only  law- 
yer of  the  city,  and  has  his  office,  kitchen,  dining-room,  etc. 
all  in  a  little  cabin  ten  feet  square,  with  an  odd  wing  for  a 
spare  bed.  He  posted  me  on  the  politics  of  that  section, 
and  gave  my  forthcoming  speech  the  proper  inclinations. 
In  the  evening  the  church  was  crowded  with  a  mixed 
audience  of  Democrats,  Republicans,  ladies,  and  both 
soldiers  and  infants  in  arms,  and  I  was  introduced  by  the 
embarrassed  President  as  "  Hon.  J.  K.  McCulloh,"  in 
terms  which  would  have  been  embarrassing  to  me  had  I 
not  been  able  to  disclaim  both  the  name  and  the  compli- 
ments. After  the  meeting,  the  city  politicians  kept  me  up 
until  after  midnight,  discussing  politics  and  Indians, — the 
vital  theme  with  all  Western  men.  I  was  glad  when  they 
departed  and  allowed  me  to  rest.  At  six  in  the  morning 
my  host  waked  me,  saying  that  he  had  breakfast  ready, 
and  the  bed  must  be  taken  up  before  the  table  could  be  set ; 
and,  by  the  time  I  got  my  heavy  eyes  open  and  finished  a 
simple  but  sluggish  toilet,  he  had  the  breakfast  on  the  table. 
He  had  delicious  Yellowstone  trout,  potatoes,  sweet  butter 
and  bread,  and  excellent  coffee ;  and  I  have  enjoyed  few 
meals  better.  Breakfast  over,  the  dishes  were  hurriedly 
washed  and  put  away,  and  the  kitchen  transformed  into 
an  attorney's  office  ready  for  clients. 

From  Bozeman  City  we  had  thirty-five  miles  down  the 
Gallatin  Valley  to  Gallatin  City,  where  my  next  appoint- 
ment was  to  be  filled.  It  is  the  only  valley  I  have  seen 
since  I  left  home  that  promises  to  rival  the  beautiful  and 
fruitful  Cumberland.  It  is  from  five  to  twenty  miles  in 
width,  has  cheerful  streams  crossing  it  at  frequent  inter- 
vals, is  bounded  by  mountain-ranges  on  both  sides,  and 
has  the  most  luxuriant  crops  I  have  ever  seen.  I  saw 
hundreds  of  acres  of  spring  wheat,  just  in  blossom,  which 
will  yield  not  less  than  forty  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  many 


POLITICAL   MEETING   AT   OALLATIN  CITY.      259 

small  fields  of  winter  wheat  which  will  yield  from  fifty  to 
seventy  bushels.  It  is  the  favorite  grazing  valley  of  the 
Territory,  and  swarms  with  finely-bred  cows  and  the 
most  elegant  stock-cattle.  It  is  but  a  few  miles  from  the 
hostile  Indian  tribes ;  but  three  hundred  mountain-volun- 
teers protect  the  entire  border  of  fifty  miles,  and  the  savage 
turns  from  them  in  terror  to  defy  the  mockery  of  eight  or 
ten  thousand  regular  troops.  A  jolly  Massachusetts  Demo- 
crat made  us  at  home  for  dinner,  and  followed  us  to  the 
Gallatin  meeting.  When  we  arrived  there,  we  found  none 
but  Democrats  in  the  city  (composed  of  three  cabins  and 
a  flouring-mill),  and  Major  Campbell,  the  veteran  citizen  of 
the  place,  opened  his  hospitable  doors  and  made  us  more 
than  welcome.  Two  of  his  highly-educated  and  accomplished 
daughters  are  married  and  settled  in  the  neighborhood ; 
another,  just  a  graduate  from  the  East,  brightens  the  cabin 
with  her  music  and  smiles  ;  while  the  good  old  people  greet 
the  traveler  with  old-time  cordiality.  Entertaining  is,  I 
presume,  their  main  reliance  for  a  livelihood,  but  they  do 
it  with  a  fascination  to  which  the  East  is  a  stranger.  At 
the  usual  hour  for  country  meetings  some  forty  men  had 
gathered  as  my  audience ;  but  there  was  but  one  Republi- 
can in  the  whole  congregation.  He  could  not  nominate 
himself  for  President,  and  he  could  not  propose  any  one 
else.  The  problem  was  finally  solved  by  the  venerable 
major,  a  sturdy  Democrat,  calling  the  meeting  to  order 
and  nominating  the  lone-star  Republican  as  President.  I 
may  say  that  I  spoke  with  reasonable  prudence,  and 
thereby  secured  respectful  attention  in  return.  I  doubt 
whether  I  converted  more  than  half  the  audience,  and  don't 
feel  at  all  sure  that  I  converted  any. 

In  the  morning  we  made  an  early  start,  in  order  to  have 
a  spare  hour  at  the  junction  of  the  Madison,  Jefferson,  and 
Gallatin  Rivers,  where  the  Missouri  is  formed.  From  a 


260  ANOTHER   HOT  DRIVE   TO   HOG  GUM. 

bluff  in  the  peninsula  between  the  Madison  and  Jefferson 
the  three  rivers  are  visible  for  miles  up  their  respective 
valleys,  while  the  Missouri  can  be  seen  for  a  considerable 
distance  as  it  dashes  off  through  a  deep,  narrow  canon  on 
its  northward  course.  From  the  river  we  turned  to  the 
northwest  to  cross  the  divide  into  Crow  Creek  Valley,  and 
had  a  tedious  and  hot  journey  over  another  long  spur  of 
the  mountains,  and  then  across  a  burnt-up  and  desolated 
valley.  For  fifteen  miles  we  did  not  see  water,  and  our 
worn-out  team  seemed  almost  famished  for  drink  when  we 
at  last  reached  a  clear,  cool  spring  on  the  prairie.  After 
crossing  Crow  Creek,  on  which  there  are  a  number  of  fine 
farms,  we  had  to  climb  another  high  spur,  on  which  I  saw 
for  the  first  time  in  the  Far  West  the  red  slate  soil  of  the 
East,  covered  with  a  low  growth  of  pine.  After  reaching 
the  summit,  we  found  that  we  had  circled  around  to  the 
Missouri  River  again,  and  found  it  skirted  with  most 
bountiful  fields.  A  pleasant  drive  of  a  few  miles  along 
the  river-bank,  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  brought  us  to  the 
renowned  city  of  Hoggum,  whose  history  forms  the  open- 
ing chapter  of  this  letter.  I  would  be  glad  to  spend  a  day 
or  two  among  the  bright  harvests  and  green  shades  of 
the  Missouri  Valley  ;  but  the  election  is  only  a  few  days 
distant,  and  the  show  must  go  on  in  Helena  to-night. 


LETTER    XXVII. 

Crossing  the  Plains  and  Divides  to  the  Madison. — Madison  Val- 
ley.— Its  Fertility. — Indifferent  Farming. — Mormon  Industry 
and  System  wanted. — Ravages  of  the  Grasshoppers. — Swarms  of 
Millions  migrating  from  one  Valley  to  another. — No  Crops  next 
Year. — The  Crickets  and  their  Ravages. — Hot  Springs  Mines 
and  Mills  again.— The  Gallatin  Valley.— Its  Beautiful  Streams, 
Bountiful  Farms,  and  Splendid  Herds. — Farming  a  Permanent 
Business  in  the  Gallatin. — Fine  Crops  and  Implements — Yield 
and  Price  of  Wheat. — Bozeman  City. — Colonel  Bozeman. — His 
Murder  by  the  Savages. — The  Montana  Militia  — Gallatin  City. 
— Its  Hasty  Rise  and  Decline. — Its  Founders  ignorant  of  Geog- 
raphy.— The  City  Cabins  now  grace  the  Prosperous  Ranches. 

GALLATIN  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  21,  1867. 
I  STARTED  on  Wednesday  last  from  Virginia  City  to 
visit  the  mines  of  the  Hot  Springs  district,  and  the  famed 
agricultural  valleys  of  the  Madison  and  the  Gallatin. 
These,  with  Jefferson  and  Deer  Lodge,  constitute  the 
main  agricultural  sections  of  the  Territory  of  Montana. 
Leaving  Virginia  by  an  old  Indian  trail  coursing  to  the 
northeast,  I  did  not  meet  with  the  sign  of  a  habitation  for 
twenty  miles,  excepting  the  crumbling  walls  of  the  Slade 
ranch,  which  was  consigned  to  decay  by  the  summary  ex- 
ecution of  its  owner  by  the  Vigilants  in  1864.  After  a 
tedious  and  hot  ride  over  the  main  Madison  "divide,"  we 
reached  the  welcome  waters  of  Madison  Creek,  a  pure 
mountain-stream  that  hurries  down  to  join  the  Madison 
before  it  plunges  into  the  narrow  canon  at  the  foot  of  the 
valley.  I  had  to  make  thirty  miles  on  horseback  in  the 

23*  (  261 ) 


262  MADISON   VALLEY. 

afternoon  to  fill  an  appointment  with  the  Republicans  of 
Sterling,  and  it  was  anything  but  a  pleasant  journey.  Be- 
hind us  we  could  see  a  green  line  winding  down  the  Stink- 
ing Water,  but,  wherever  else  the  eye  would  turn,  nothing 
but  parched  plains  and  hot  bluffs  were  visible.  Occasion- 
ally a  little  stream  would  cross  our  path  and  cheer  us  with 
a  stinted  growth  of  cottonwoods  and  alder  bushes;  but  the 
heat  steamed  up  from  the  prairies  and  swept  down  from 
the  cliffs  with  terrible  intensity.  Now  and  then  we  could 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  Madison  Yalley  from  some  prominent 
elevation,  but  even  there  the  general  seared  and  desolate 
garb  of  the  country  was  relieved  but  by  a  narrow,  sinuous 
strip  of  verdure  that  seemed  to  hug  the  low  banks  of  the 
river.  On  the  beautiful  table-lands  between  the  river  and 
the  mountain-range  beyond,  there  was  the  broad,  pale  seal 
of  death  to  all  vegetation ;  and  even  where  the  narrow  flats 
had  been  sown,  the  grasshoppers  had  bared  them  to  the 
very  earth  in  their  relentless  march. 

At  Meadow  Creek  we  stopped  to  rest  and  refresh  our- 
selves and  horses.  The  clearest  and  softest  of  mountain- 
water  ran  by,  and  the  brook-trout  sported,  with  their  match- 
less grace,  in  its  crystal  ripples.  Our  host  had  an  abundance 
of  ice, — all  that  the  grasshoppers  had  left  him, — and  our 
party  had  a  delightful  rest,  and  cooling  draughts  from 
nature's  sweet  fountains.  At  this  point  we  were  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  Madison  Yalley,  and  could  see  most  of  it 
from  the  rise  in  the  prairie.  It  is  the  smallest  of  the  four 
leading  valleys  now  settled  in  the  Territory,  and  has  been 
very  productive.  At  some  points  the  bottom-land  on  either 
side  of  the  river  widens  out  for  several  miles,  and  beyond 
that  the  ranchmen  have  not  yet  ventured  to  break  up  the 
ground.  Between  the  river  and  the  range  that  divides  the 
Madison  from  the  Yellowstone  there  is  a  broad  table  of 
most  beautiful  and  fertile  land,  that  could  be  easily  irrigated 


INDIFFERENT  FARMING.  203 

by  the  mountain-streams,  or  even  by  the  Madison,  if  di- 
verted some  miles  above  through  a  canal.  But  this  would 
require  more  labor  than  the  limited  number  of  settlers  now 
in  the  valley  could  afford  to  give  to  such  an  enterprise, 
and  they  therefore  content  themselves  with  the  bottom- 
lands, which  are  so  wet  and  cold  in  the  spring  that  they 
expose  their  garden  and  field  crops  to  the  early  frosts. 
Vegetation  of  all  kinds  would  start  several  weeks  earlier 
in  the  higher  and  dryer  table-lands  in  the  spring,  and  add 
vastly  to  the  safety  and  product  of  the  crops. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  agricultural  progress  in  Mon- 
tana is  that  scarcely  one  farmer  regards  farming  as  his  fixed 
pursuit.  Most  of  the  ranchmen  came  here  adventurous 
miners,  and  only  settled  on  the  ranches  to  secure  a  living 
for  the  time  being  until  others  should  develop  their  quartz- 
lodes,  or  until  some  regular  farmer  should  come  along 
and  buy  them  out  at  a  large  advance.  Flour  commanded 
as  high  as  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  per  hundred 
pounds  when  gulch-mining  was  prosperous  in  Bannock  and 
Virginia,  and  when  the  gulches  were  exhausted  many 
rushed  into  the  valleys  to  make  a  sudden  fortune  out  of  a 
single  crop  the  next  season.  The  next  year  flour  was  down 
to  twenty  dollars  per  sack,  and  the  hope  of  sudden  fortune 
vanished.  Thus,  most  of  the  ranches  have  been  improved 
in  the  most  temporary  and  imperfect  manner,  and  great 
crops  have  been  gathered  rather  because  of  the  wonderful 
fruitfulness  of  the  soil  than  the  skill  or  care  of  the  farmers. 
In  the  Madison  Valley  there  is  no  farming  except  in  locali- 
ties where  irrigation  needs  little  artificial  aid;  and  then  it  is 
not  attended  to  with  the  degree  of  care  necessary  to  secure 
first-class  crops.  If  the  Mormons  could  leave  their  beastly 
polygamy  behind  them,  I  would  be  glad  to  see  a  settlement 
of  them  in  one  of  the  agricultural  valleys  of  Montana. 
Immense  as  the  crops  are  now,  they  would,  upon  the  whole, 


264  RAVAGES   OF  THE   GRASSHOPPERS. 

double  them,  and  beautify  their  homes  as  they  increased 
the  fvuitfulness  of  their  fields.  Farming  is  their  calling,  and 
they  would  not  put  out  a  crop  each  year  imperfectly,  ex- 
pecting that  by  next  season  they  would  be  after  some  new 
diggings  or  prospecting  for  new  lands.  The  cabins,  fences, 
and  all  implements,  as  a  rule,  are  made  in  the  most  indif- 
ferent manner  by  the  ranchmen,  because  the  settlers  do  not 
expect  to  remain  and  pursue  agriculture  for  a  livelihood. 
There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  but  not  more  than  enough 
to  prove  the  rule. 

This  year  the  grasshoppers  have  almost  totally  de- 
stroyed the  crops  of  Madison  Valley,  and  last  year  they 
committed  serious  depredations  upon  the  late  crops.  I 
saw  them  moving  in  the  valley,  and  they  seemed  to  be  in 
swarms  of  millions.  In  their  flight,  they  almost  shadow 
the  sun.  As  far  as  the  eye  can  distinguish  an  object 
the  size  of  one  of  these  fearfully  destructive  insects,  they 
may  be  seen  circling  around,  apparently  in  general  con- 
fusion ;  but  a  careful  examination  shows  that  the  count- 
less body  is  steadily  moving  on  toward  some  desired  point. 
In  the  evening,  when  the  eye  can  face  the  sun,  they  can 
be  seen  until  the  white  specks  fade  out  in  the  dimness  of 
distance.  Thus  they  migrate  from  place  to  place;  and 
woe  to  the  luckless  ranchman  upon  whose  fields  they 
light,  if  the  crop  is  still  green.  But  their  devastation  does 
not  end  with  the  destruction  of  the  growing  crop.  They 
deposit  their  eggs  while  desolating  the  fields  this  season, 
and  thus  give  the  farmer  notice  that  their  successors  will 
be  more  destructive,  if  possible,  next  year.  Last  summer 
they  migrated  into  the  Madison  Valley,  and  this  spring 
the  valley  swarmed  with  little  grasshoppers,  who  began 
their  fatal  work  before  they  were  half  an  inch  in  length. 
As  fast  as  vegetables  or  field  crops  grew,  they  were  eaten 
down,  until  finally  the  last  remnant  of  life  was  destroyed, 


THE   CRICKETS  AND    THEIR   RAVAGES.         265 

and  the  fields  and  gardens  were  left  as  bare  as  the  high- 
way. Of  all  vegetables,  the  potato  alone  escaped  their 
devouring  appetite  ;  and,  while  there  is  general  destruction 
of  crops  and  vegetation  in  the  Madison  Valley,  there  will 
be  an  immense  yield  of  potatoes.  Here  and  there  a  ranch 
escaped  their  march ;  but  how  or  why,  no  one  can  guess. 
I  saw  isolated  fields  of  elegant  grain,  where  there  was 
nothing  but  utter  waste  on  all  the  ranches  for  miles  above 
and  below  them.  There  are  but  few  who  will  venture 
next  year  to  put  out  anything  like  full  crops  in  the  valley 
of  the  Madison,  and  many  ranches  will  be  sold  out  at  a 
sacrifice  this  fall,  by  the  ever-restless  and  discontented 
settlers. 

At  Meadow  Creek  I  left  the  river,  as  it  rushes  down 
into  a  deep,  narrow  canon,  and  ceases  to  aid  the  farmer 
until  it  reaches  near  to  its  junction  with  the  Jefferson  at 
this  point.  Another  long  and  steep  "  divide"  had  to  be 
crossed  to  reach  the  Hot  Springs  mining  district,  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  in  the  Territory.  As  I  arrived  at  the 
foot  of  the  hills,  I  saw  for  the  first  time  the  crickets, 
which  are  no  less  destructive  to  the  crops  than  the  grass- 
hoppers. I  came  suddenly  upon  an  immense  flock  of  them, 
covering  acres  of  the  prairie,  and  awkwardly  jumping  and 
lumbering  along  toward  the  Gallatin,  as  if  they  considered 
the  Madison  "  sluiced  out."  "  They  are  four  times  as  large 
as  the  largest  of  Eastern  house-crickets,  of  every  color 
from  black  to  pale  yellow,  and  have  a  most  clumsy  motion. 
They  are  about  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  half  an  inch 
thick,  and  stumble  and  tumble  over  each  other,  when 
frightened,  in  the  most  ludicrous  style  imaginable.  They 
have  no  wings,  and  travel  by  walking  or  hopping,  slowly 
but  steadily,  until  they  reach  some  field  or  garden  on 
which  to  try  their  appetites.  As  they  cannot  fly,  they 
are  sometimes  repulsed  in  their  movements  by  water 


266  HOT  SPRINGS  MINES  AND   MILLS. 

ditches,  when  they  flank  the  ditch  and  move  on  to  the 
fields  of  some  less  careful  or  less  fortunate  farmer. 

After  reaching  the  top  of  the  divide,  a  short  distance 
through  a  narrow  canon  brought  me  to  Sterling  City,  the 
chief  mining-camp  of  the  Hot  Springs  district.  It  is  a 
modern  mining-city  of  probably  twenty  cabins,  all  built 
within  eighteen  months,  and  most  of  them  neatly  finished. 
There  are  three  quartz-mills  just  above  the  city,  two  more 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  one  or  two  new  ones  on  the  way, 
to  be  used  on  the  Hot  Springs  ores.  It  is  undoubtedly 
a  rich  quartz-district ;  but  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  not 
a  single  lead  had  been  thoroughly  developed,  and  not  a 
single  mill  able  to  command  a  certain  supply  of  ore  from 
its  own  mines.  The  leads  are  mainly  owned  by  prospecters 
and  miners,  who  will  not  sell  at  reasonable  rates,  and 
cannot  develop  ;  and  they  are  waiting  in  poverty  for  others 
to  dig  beside  them,  prove  the  value  of  their  property,  and 
make  them  millionaires.  One  mill,  that  was  started  with 
highest  hopes,  is  doing  a  mere  paying  business  by  crush- 
ing custom  ores  at  fifteen  dollars  per  ton  in  currency.  Its 
mines  exhausted  the  capital  of  the  company  and  supplied 
no  ore ;  but  it  is  wisely  managed,  and  is  content  to  pay 
expenses  and  wait  until  the  time  comes  to  secure  property 
that  will  warrant  development.  The  best  stamp-mill  in 
the  Territory  is  nearly  completed  there,  by  Professor 
Ward.  It  will  do  much  for  the  district,  and  I  hope  that 
it  may  do  as  well  for  its  stockholders.  It  is  the  most 
improved  California  machinery,  is  being  put  up  regardless 
of  expense,  and  will  doubtless  test  the  ores  of  the  district 
very  thoroughly ;  but,  like  every  other  mill  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, it  has  no  certain  source  of  supply  from  its  own 
mines,  and  must  for  some  time  at  least  be  measurably 
or  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  miners,  who  well  under- 
stand the  advantage  they  possess  over  capitalists  whose 


THE  MADISON  RIVER.  26 T 

money  is  already  invested  and  who  must  have  valuable 
ores  to  secure  returns.  The  third  mill  is  idle  for  want  of 
ore,  while  there  are  thousands  of  tons  of  good  ore  in  the 
vicinity.  One  large  lead,  owned  by  three  miners  who  dis- 
covered it,  has  been  several  times  on  the  very  verge  of  sher- 
iff's sale  for  twelve  hundred  dollars  of  debt.  It  produces  ore 
cheaply  that  yields  from  fifty  to  eighty  dollars  per  ton, 
and  which  can  be  mined,  hauled,  and  reduced  for  less  than 
twenty-five  dollars  per  ton.  It  may  be  worth  a  million  or 
more,  as  its  owners  estimate  it ;  but  practical  men  do  not 
pretend  to  see  into  the  ground,  and  they  know  that  it  may 
cap,  or  pinch,  or  play  out  entirely ;  and  so  it  is  likely  to 
remain  undeveloped  for  some  years.  As  far  as  the  partial 
developments  have  been  made  in  that  district,  it  promises 
to  be  most  bountiful  in  the  production  of  the  precious 
metals.  It  is,  so  far  as  now  known,  the  northeastern  ter- 
minus of  the  great  gold-belt  of  Montana,  that  starts  at 
Summit  (eight  miles  southwest  of  Virginia)  and  seems 
to  run  in  a  direct  line  across  the  country  to  Hot  Springs. 
It  is  distinctly  traced  all  the  way  by  the  discovery  of  leads 
for  a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles. 

From  Sterling  I  started  for  the  upper  end  of  the  Galla- 
tin  Valley.  I  crossed  the  Madison  River,  as  it  swings 
around  to  the  north,  on  a  substantial  bridge,  about  four 
miles  above  the  crossing  on  the  Bozeman  wagon-route.  It 
is  a  beautiful  stream  of  clear  water,  with  pebble  bottom, 
less  than  one  hundred  yards  in  width,  and  abounding  in 
trout  and  other  fish.  It  has  no  timber  at  all  on  its  banks, 
but  here  and  there  are  thickets  of  willow  bushes.  As  far 
as  I  followed  it  there  was  no  bottom-land  of  any  conse- 
quence on  either  side  of  it,  and  the  table-lands  are  gravelly, 
broken,  and  not  adapted  to  successful  agriculture.  The 
bluffs  which  skirt  it  close  by  are  abrupt  and  timberless, 
and  ridged  by  game-trails,  made  before  the  advent  of  the 


268  THE   GALLATIN   VALLEY. 

white  man.  After  climbing  another  long  and  most  tedious 
divide,  made  up  of  miles  of  successive  prairie-hills,  I  at 
last  reached  an  abrupt  descent  into  the  celebrated  Gallatin 
Valley,  and  the  river  was  visible  for  twenty  miles  down 
the  valley  by  the  luxuriant  growth  of  timber  that  lines  its 
banks.  Where  I  entered  it,  its  breadth  is  about  twenty 
miles;  it  continues  down  for  thirty  miles,  ranging  from 
three  to  twenty  miles  in  breadth,  and  extends  southeast, 
or  up  the  river,  probably  ten  miles  ;  but  there  are  few  set- 
tlers along  the  Bozeman  route.  It  is  the  most  magnifi- 
cent valley  I  have  seen  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is 
one  vast  meadow,  almost  level,  dotted  with  green  lines 
along  its  numerous  tributaries  to  the  river,  and  its  soil  is 
as  productive  as  any  in  the  world.  I  crossed  almost  its 
entire  breadth  to  Bozeman  City,  and  saw  its  most  bounti- 
ful crops  of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  and  buckwheat,  and  its 
tempting  vegetables.  The  spring  wheat  is  just  in  blos- 
som, and  the  winter  wheat  is  about  ready  for  the  reaper. 
Until  two  years  ago  the  settlers  sowed  spring  wheat  en- 
tirely ;  but  a  trial  of  winter  wheat  gave  such  satisfactory 
results  that  last  fall  all  that  was  in  the  valley  sold  for 
twenty-five  dollars  per  bushel  in  gold,  for  seed.  This 
season  about  one-tenth  the  harvest  is  winter  wheat,  and 
the  whole  crop  will  be  sold  at  five  dollars  per  bushel 
for  seed  again.  I  cannot  question  the  evidence  that 
establishes  the  raising  of  eighty  bushels  of  winter  wheat 
on  an  acre  of  ground  in  the  valley.  Even  spring  wheat 
usually  yields  forty  bushels  to  the  acre.  I  saw  winter 
wheat  on  Saturday  that  is  expected  to  yield  seventy 
bushels  to  the  acre ;  and  I  do  not  think  the  calculation 
an  unreasonable  one.  This  valley  is  so  well  watered,  so 
easily  irrigated,  and  so  universally  productive  that  it  is 
being  rapidly  settled  by  men  who  mean  to  follow  farming 
as  their  calling.  I  saw  on  one  splendid  farm  a  reaper  and 


MURDER    OF  COLONEL   BOZEMAN.  269 

mower,  grain-drill,  hay-rake,  thrashing-machine,  etc.,  of 
the  most  improved  Eastern  pattern ;  and  throughout  the 
valley  farming  seems  to  be  regarded  as  a  legitimate  busi- 
ness. The  ranchmen  do  not  fly  off  to  every  new  diggings 
reported,  but  are,  as  a  rule,  content  to  labor  in  seed-time 
and  wait  for  harvest  for  their  abundant  reward.  There  are 
two  excellent  flouring-mills  in  the  valley, — one  at  Bozeman 
City,  on  the  Gallatin,  and  the  other  here,  on  the  Madison. 
Both  have  the  most  improved  turbine  wheels,  run  two  pair 
of  burrs,  and  can  each  turn  out  one  hundred  sacks  of  flour 
(equal  to  fifty  barrels)  in  twenty-four  hours.  Just  now 
there  is  some  depression  in  this  valley,  owing  to  the  low 
prices  for  produce ;  but  there  are  vast  fields  of  gold  over 
the  Yellowstone  divide,  and,  I  doubt  not,  in  the  mountains 
close  by,  and  the  day  is  not  very  distant  when  this  section 
of  Montana  will  be  as  prolific  in  the  yield  of  the  precious 
metals  as  it  is  now  bountiful  in  Jthe  yield  of  the  staff  of 
life.  SjT 

Bozeman  City  took  its  name  from  Colonel  Bozeman, 
who  opened  the  Renno  or  Powder  River  route  to  Montana, 
and  who  was  basely  murdered  by  the  Indians  last  spring. 
He  welcomed  the  Indians  into  his  camp,  believing  them  to 
be  friendly,  as  they  professed ;  and,  while  he  was  eating 
his  dinner,  he  was  butchered.  Mr.  Coover,  of  Bozeman 
City,  was  with  him,  and  escaped  with  a  wound  after  Boze- 
man was  killed.  I  have  had  his  statement  of  the  affair ; 
and  a  story  of  Train  (given  in  a  speech  in  Omaha  after 
looking  into  the  Indian  question  from  railroad-cars),  that 
Bozeman  had  been  killed  for  insulting  a  squaw,  is  utterly 
false,  as  there  were  no  squaws  with  the  Indians  who  killed 
Colonel  Bozeman.  Although  a  young  man,  not  over  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  he  had  been  a  long  time  in  the  mount- 
ains, was  very  familiar  with  the  Indians,  and  exerted  a 
<nvat  influence  over  them  for  good.  His  death  aroused 

24 


270  THE  MONTANA   MILITIA. 

the  Montana  borders,  and  it  will  be  fearfully  avenged  by 
the  "  M.  M."  (Montana  Militia),  now  in  the  field.  General 
Sherman  may  occasionally  hear  of  what  they  do  when  they 
meet  hostile  Indians ;  but  most  of  their  operations  will  not 
figure  in  official  reports.  One  thing,  however,  you  can 
rely  upon  : — they  will  protect  Montana.  Bozeman  City, 
where  I  spent  last  Friday,  is  within  sixteen  miles  of  the 
grounds  of  thousands  of  hostile  tribes,  but  they  have  not 
ventured  to  cross  the  path  of  three  hundred  mountain-volun- 
teers. Not  a  man  has  been  molested  since  they  have  been 
on  the  border,  and  not  a  dollar's  worth  of  property  stolen 
by  the  savages.  They  prefer  to  go  hundreds  of  miles  in 
another  direction,  and  make  tilts  against  General  Sher- 
man's eight  thousand  or  ten  thousand  regular  troops.  Can- 
not the  government  see  why  they  do  so  ?  And  is  it  so 
blind  as  not  to  see  the  proper  remedy? 

I  left  the  dozen  cabins  of  Bozeman  City  on  Saturday  for 
this  place,  and  had  a  most  delightful  drive  down  the  val- 
ley, skirting  the  river  most  of  the  way.  It  is  the  most 
beautiful  stream  I  have  seen  in  the  mountains.  Its  banks 
have  a  thicket  of  large  cotton-trees  all  the  way, — the  first 
trees  I  have  seen  in  the  Far  West  that  deserve  the  name. 
Many  of  them  are  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches  in 
diameter.  Numerous  springs  cross  the  valley,  each  clad 
in  its  garb  of  green  willows ;  and  the  fruitful  fields  and 
splendid  herds  of  cows  and  stock-cattle  give  the  valley  a 
home-like  appearance  that  is  seldom  seen  in  this  region. 
At  this  place  the  Missouri  River  begins.  The  Jefferson 
and  Madison  Rivers  unite  about  half  a  mile  above,  and  the 
three  unite  a  little  below,  where  the  Missouri  is  formed, 
and  it  sweeps  off,  through  a  narrow  cut  in  the  bluffs,  on  its 
sinuous  course,  to  drain  the  great  country  northeast  of  the 
mountains  and  bear  its  waters  thousands  of  miles  hence  to 
the  sea.  Gallatin  City  once  had  over  sixty  cabins,  all 


GALLATIN    VALLEY.  271 

erected  in  one  season,  mainly  by  Missourians,  who  believed 
that  it  would  be  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri ; 
but,  after  the  city  was  built  and  no  boats  came  for  a  whole 
season,  some  one  came  along  and  informed  the  enterprising 
residents  that  there  were  great  falls  in  the  river  above  Ben- 
ton,  which  stopped  the  boats,  and  the  city,  once  so  full  of 
promise,  fell  away,  until  a  single  cabin  now  represents  it. 
The  city  cabins  have  been  taken  up  from  time  to  time 
and  scattered  over  the  prairie  on  ranches,  and  while  a 
speculative  city  has  disappeared  because  of  the  want  of  the 
proper  study  of  geography,  pleasant  ranches  and  prosper- 
ous ranchmen  have  taken  its  place,  and  made  the  prairie 
blossom  and  ripen  with  the  golden  fruits  which  gladden 
the  heart  of  the  husbandman.  I  start  to-day  for  Spring- 
ville,  and  expect  to  reach  Helena  to-morrow. 


LETTER    XXVII  I. 

The  Morning  Air  of  the  Mountains. — A  "Wonderful  Tonic. — 
Mountain-Pasturage. — How  Cattle  are  wintered. — Bunch 
Grass  and  Tender  Beef.— The  Gallatin  Valley  again.— Its  Fer- 
tility and  many  Advantages. — The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 
— The  Navigation  of  the  Upper  Missouri. — The  Rich  Region 
east  of  Gallatin. — The  Savage  resisting  Civilization. — Settle- 
ments extending  East  and  West  through  Montana. — The  In- 
evitable Solution  of  the  Indian  Problem. — Prickly  Pear  Valley. 
— Dinner  and  Rest. — Don  Pedro  and  his  Mistress. — Welcome 
to  Helena. — Dr.  Cass  in  Command. — His  Ideas  of  Water  as  a 
Steady  Beverage. — A  Bottle  of  Wine  his  Sovereign  Remedy. — 
Another  Political  Meeting. — Speech  refuted  in  the  Newspapers. 
— A  Day  at  the  Hot  Springs. — Mrs.  General  Meagher. — Excel- 
lent Dinner  and  Baths. — Virtue  and  Vice. 

HELENA  HOT  SPRINGS,         \ 
MONTANA  TERR.,  August  23,  1867.   / 

I  WOKE  up  in  the  suburbs  of  Hoggum  on  Tuesday 
morning,  with  heavy  eyes  and  more  than  weary  from  my 
daily  hard  drives  and  stumping  every  evening.  But  the 
morning  air  of  the  mountains  is  the  most  wonderful  tonic 
in  the  world,  and  a  little  stroll  along  the  clear  streams 
sweeping  down  to  the  Missouri,  clad  in  their  cheerful  gar- 
ments of  green,  sharpened  my  appetite  for  an  excellent 
breakfast,  and  soon  thereafter  we  started  for  a  drive  of 
thirty-five  miles  to  Helena.  Our  course  was  rather  west 
of  north,  leaving  the  river  to  hug  the  mountain-range  east 
of  us ;  and  we  had  the  usual  long,  hard,  rough  divide  to 
cross  to  pass  from  the  Missouri  Valley  to  the  Prickly  Pear. 
(272) 


MO  UNTA  IN-  PASTURAGE.  27  3 

As  we  gradually  ascended  the  prairie  to  the  summit,  we 
were  soon  beyond  the  irrigating  streams,  and  for  ten  miles 
we  had  to  traverse  an  elevated  table  or  meadow,  with  a 
bountiful  crop  of  loose  boulders  to  impede  our  progress. 
The  grass  there,  as  elsewhere  on  the  undulating  lands, 
was  parched  almost  white ;  but  innumerable  herds  of  the 
finest  stock  grazed  upon  it,  and  were  fat  and  sleek  as  our 
Eastern  stall-fed  bullocks.  An  Eastern  stock-grower,  used 
only  to  the  green  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  would  at  first 
sight  pronounce  these  prairies  unfit  for  pasturage ;  but 
in  no  place  in  the  world  will  stock  thrive  better  than  on 
this  same  seemingly  burnt-up  grass.  Although  the  stock 
and  blades  are  dead,  they  are  still  nutritious ;  but  the 
chief  sustenance  of  cattle  and  horses  is  in  the  "  bunch 
grass,"  to  be  found  on  all  elevated  lands  in  the  mountains, 
which  never  loses  its  freshness  at  the  roots.  In  the  dryest 
seasons  of  summer,  and  the  coldest  winters,  it  preserves 
its  perpetual  greenness  near  the  roots,  and  is  succulent 
and  most  nourishing.  No  amount  of  hay  or  grain  fed  to 
cattle  in  the  winter  will  bring  them  out  in  the  spring  in  as 
good  order  as  grazing  on  the  bunch  grass,  if  the  snows  do 
not  fall  so  deep  as  to  prevent  them  from  reaching  the 
roots ;  and  no  other  feed  will  make  the  beef  so  sweet, 
juicy,  and  tender.  Hitherto  all  the  thousands  of  cattle  in 
Montana  have  been  sent  to  the  valleys  to  shift  for  them- 
selves during  the  winter ;  but  last  winter  was  so  severe 
that  many  hundreds  were  lost,  because  the  snow  denied 
them  access  to  the  grass.  In  the  winter  of  1863 
there  was  but  little  severe  weather  in  Mo'ntana.  The 
months  of  November,  December,  and  January  were  like 
early  autumn  in  the  vicinity  of  Chambersburg,  and  the 
subsequent  winter  months  were  comparatively  mild.  The 
winters  of  1864-5-6  were  more  severe,  but  still  not  suffi- 
ciently so  to  prevent  stock  from  wintering  very  well  on 

24* 


274  THE  GALLATIN   VALLEY  AGAIN. 

grass.  Last  winter,  however,  gave  Montana  three  months 
of  terrible  winter,  with  from  two  to  three  feet  of  snow  in 
the  valleys ;  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  stock 
perished.  Most  of  those  that  survived  were  reduced 
almost  to  skeletons,  and  came  out  singed  of  most  of  their 
hair  by  the  fearful  severity  of  the  winter.  In  a  few  locali- 
ties fat  beef-cattle  were  turned  out  off  the  grass,  but  as  a 
rule  the  stock  wintered  badly.  Admonished  by  the  ex- 
perience of  last  winter,  most  of  the  herders  in  the  valleys, 
and  many  of  the  farmers,  have  put  up  hay,  and  will  be 
prepared  to  feed  their  stock  if  a  bad  spell  should  arrest 
grazing.  Throughout  the  whole  agricultural  regions  of 
Montana  I  have  found  the  finest  short-horn  stock.  I 
doubt  not  that  cattle  develop  better  here  than  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  mountains. 

I  cannot  take  leave  of  the  beautiful  valleys  from  Boze- 
man  to  Helena  without  another  reference  to  their  many 
advantages.  The  Gallatin  is  the  most  eastern  of  the 
Montana  settlements,  and  is  incomparably  the  finest  agri- 
cultural region  I  have  found  in  the  Far  West.  I  doubt 
whether  even  its  settlers  have  any  just  appreciation  of  its 
future  destiny.  It  is  on  the  well-known  Bozeman  route, — 
the  shortest  and  best-watered  route  to  Montana, — and 
abounds  with  the  finest  pastures.  The  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  will  cross  it,  if  it  does  not  follow  it  a  considera- 
ble distance,  making  it  in  all  respects  the  most  accessible 
portion  of  the  Territory ;  and  a  few  years  at  most  will  see 
steamers  land  not  far  from  Gallatin  City,  the  lower  end  of 
the  valley.  The  Missouri  is  navigable  in  the  dryest  season, 
for  light  boats,  from  the  junction  of  the  Jefferson,  Madi- 
son, and  Gallatin  to  the  falls  above  Fort  Benton;  and  a 
railway  of  eighteen  miles  there  would  connect  the  upper 
Missouri  lines  with  the  lines  now  plying  from  Benton  to 
St.  Louis.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  now  certain, 


THE  NORTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD.  275 

I  trust,  soon  to  be  realized,  the  route  east  from  Gallatin 
Yalley  abounds  in  equally  fertile  valleys  and  even  more 
salubrious  climates.  The  Yellowstone  is  confessedly  one 
of  the  most  fertile  regions  of  the  Far  West,  and  its  climate 
invites  the  buffalo  from  the  Platte,  hundreds  of  miles  south, 
to  winter  in  its  more  genial  atmosphere.  Besides  the  vast 
agricultural  resources  of  this  region,  it  is  known  to  abound 
in  precious  metals ;  and  already  the  sturdy  prospecter  has 
gone  as  far  as  Wind  River  and  Big  Horn  Mountains  from 
the  Gallatin,  and  camps  now  swarm  on  the  Muscleshell, 
northeast  of  Bozeman.  The  savage  has  most  jealously 
guarded  these  sections  of  the  West,  and  many  prospecters 
have  found  bloody  graves  as  their  reward  for  pioneering 
civilization ;  but  the  Indian  has  lost  all  the  sympathy  of 
the  pale-faces  by  his  relentless  savagery,  and  he  must  re- 
cede or  die  as  the  miner  and  ranchman  advance  with  their 
trusty  rifles  and  implacable  hostility.  Before  five  years 
there  will  be  continuous  settlements  and  mining-camps 
from  the  head-waters  of  the  Missouri  east,  until  civiliza- 
tion from  east  and  west  shall  strike  hands  in  the  great 
Northern  wilderness.  It  matters  not  what  shall  be  the 
policy  of  the  government  with  reference  to  the  Indian.  It 
cannot  save  him  if  it  would :  it  will  riot  try  to  divide  this 
region  for  him,  if  it  is  wise  in  its  policy.  The  march  of 
progress  is  inexorable  in  its  mandates,  and  neither  troops, 
treaties,  nor  poetical  commanders  can  reverse  the  logic  of 
facts.  I  trust  that  but  a  few  years  will  see  the  beneficent 
fruits  of  a  generous  policy  on  the  part  of  the  government 
in  the  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad, 'and 
the  removal  of  obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  the 
Missouri ;  but,  even  if  the  government  shall  be  penny-wise 
and  pound-foolish  enough  to  refuse  its  aid  in  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  this  region  of  incalculable  mineral  and  agri- 
cultural wealth,  the  current  of  progress  will  move  steadily 


216  THE  PRICKLY  PEAR    VALLEY. 

onward.  I  wish  indeed  that  our  Congress  could  be  thrown 
into  these  blooming,  fruitful  valleys  and  mines  of  surpass- 
ing richness  for  a  month,  instead  of  sending  committees 
to  view  the  mountains  and  Indians  from  railroad-cars, 
usually  to  report  in  favor  of  the  barbarous  hordes  whose 
distinction  is  measured  solely  by  the  number  and  atrocity 
of  their  butcheries. 

When  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  divide  northwest 
of  Hoggum,  the  Prickly  Pear  Valley  was  presented  in  all 
its  beauty.  We  dined  sumptuously  at  a  two-story  ranch 
on  savory  elk-steak  and  the  finest  of  vegetables,  and  had 
an  hour  of  rest  among  the  latest  Eastern  periodicals.  I 
tried  to  catch  up  with  some  of  my  lost  sleep ;  but  a  newly- 
returning  boarding-school  miss  kept  up  a  perpetual  strug- 
gle for  the  mastery  of  "  Don  Pedro,"  a  wayward  poodle- 
dog,  and  between  them  I  was  forbidden  sleep.  Don  Pedro 
insisted  upon  being  sociable  with  me, — prospected  my 
clothes,  and  demanded  his  full  share  of  the  lounge  and 
newspapers  for  his  amusement.  I  could  have  managed 
him  ;  but  his  romantic  mistress  would  follow  him  in  every 
few  minutes  and  lecture  Don  Pedro  for  his  rudeness  to 
strangers  and  playing  truant  with  her.  Although  Don 
Pedro  and  his  simpering  mistress  stood  sentinels  against 
sleep,  I  still  had  an  hour  of  rest,  and  pursued  my  journey 
much  refreshed.  The  Prickly  Pear  Yalley  extends  for 
some  twenty  or  thirty  miles,  ranging  in  width  from  five  to 
twenty  miles,  and  nestling  in  a  flock  of  mountain-spurs 
stands  Helena,  the  principal  city  of  the  Territory.  The 
Missouri  is  on  the  same  side  of  the  mountain-range,  but 
divided  from  the  valley  by  high  foot-hills,  as  it  courses  its 
way  northward,  some  sixteen  miles  east  of  the  city.  The 
Prickly  Pear  traverses  the  valley,  marking  its  sinuous  line 
by  a  luxuriant  growth  of  shrubbery,  and  on  either  side 
there  are  beautiful  farms,  with  the  golden  wheat  in  shock. 


WELCOMED    TO   HELENA.  277 

The  whole  valley  is  covered  with  the  finest  pasturage, 
and  countless  herds  graze  on  its  bountiful  and  nutritious 
grasses. 

When  within  five  miles  of  the  city,  we  saw  a  cloud  of 
dust  rise  ahead  of  us,  looking  as  if  a  troop  of  Indians  were 
upon  our  trail ;  but,  as  we  met  it,  my  old  friend  arid  com- 
panion through  the  perilous  Indian  troubles  of  Bridger, 
Dr.  Cass,  surrounded  us  with  a  mounted  escort  of  twenty- 
five  men,  and  bid  us  welcome  to  the  city  of  Helena. 
Among  them  was  the  postmaster  of  the  city,  who  did  not 
follow  Xasby  in  firing  salutes  around  the  groceries  in  honor 
of  A.  J.,  but  is  a  square-out  Republican  and  braves  every 
thing  for  the  cause.  We  all  dismounted  in  obedience  to 
orders  from  Dr.  Cass,  and,  after  an  introduction  all  around, 
he  insisted  that  our  team  needed  refreshing.  He  had  a 
buggy,  and  from  under  the  seat  a  willow  basket  temptingly 
projected.  In  its  capacious  quarters  were  many  bottles, 
tumblers,  and  blocks  of  crystal  ice;  and  he  insisted  that  all 
must  partake.  The  scorching  rays  of  the  sun  and  clouds  of 
dust  gave  me  earnest  reminders  of  the  luxury  of  ice-water, 
and  I  inquired  whether  we  could  have  some.  "Water!" 
responded  the  genial  doctor,  with  a  jolly  grin  all  over  his 
face;  " water  is  all  very  well  in  its  place, — very  good  for 
baptizing  infants  where  they  have  such  things,  and  excel- 
lent for  sluicing  out  gulches ;  but  it  don't  do  for  a  steady 
beverage  up  here,  where  the  air  is  so  thin."  Suiting  the 
action  to  the  sentiment,  corks  flew  in  every  direction,  and 
Montana  and  her  champions  were  toasted  with  increased 
fervor  as  the  work  progressed.  We  soon  started  for  the 
city,  and  I  could  not  deny  the  theory  that  sparkling  wine 
refreshes  the  horses  when  imbibed  by  the  driver  or  rider. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  horses  were  more  spirited  than  be- 
fore, the  procession  more  punctilious  in  its  military  orders, 
if  Ic.ss  obedient  in  observing  them  ;  and  we  rushed  into 


278  ANOTHER   POLITICAL  MEETING. 

the  city  as  if  the  horses  expected  another  bursting  of  cham- 
pagne for  their  benefit  when  we  should  arrive  there.  Stray 
horsemen,  solitary  and  otherwise,  joined  us  as  we  neared 
the  city,  and  when  we  entered  Main  Street  we  had  quite  a 
procession.  After  traversing  the  several  principal  streets, 
we  halted,  our  quarters  were  shown  us,  and  fifteen  minutes 
were  given  me  to  wash  and  dust  off,  when  I  would  be 
wanted.  Dr.  Cass  suggested  and  supplied  a  bottle  of  wine 
to  clear  the  dust  out  of  the  throat  while  I  was  brushing  it 
off  externally,  and  in  due  time  he  called  again  and  invited 
me  to  enjoy  the  cool  shade  of  his  office,  where  I  found  a 
bottle  of  wine  already  opened  to  revive  the  spirits  of  the 
exhausted  company.  In  vain  I  pleaded  the  danger  of  head- 
ache, disordered  stomach,  etc.  "  All  very  well  for  the  hot- 
house plants  of  the  East ;  but  mountaineers  are  strangers  to 
such  complaints,"  was  the  reply.  From  there  we  repaired  to 
various  prominent  places  of  the  city,  and  at  each  the  highly 
original  idea  seemed  to  have  just  occurred  to  the  doctor 
that  a  bottle  of  wine  must  be  smashed.  Barn-door  hand- 
bills confronted  me  at  every  corner,  reminding  me  that  I 
was  to  be  the  speaker  of  the  evening  at  a  mass-meeting  to 
be  congregated  in  a  few  hours,  and  the  doctor  met  all  my 
interrogatories  as  to  the  character  of  the  audience  and  the 
direction  I  should  give  my  remarks,  by  suggesting  a  bottle 
of  wine.  I  "  wagoned"  through  the  whole  ordeal  with  a  clear 
head  and  steady  nerves,  and  at  the  appointed  hour  took  the 
stand  to  talk  to  a  crowd  that  seemed  to  extend  in  every  di- 
rection as  far  as  I  could  see.  I  spoke  the  time  I  had  allotted 
for  the  task,  and  supposed  that  I  had  said  about  what  I 
had  intended  to  say,  until  the  morning  paper  came  out  with 
a  condensed  report  of  my  speech.  I  recognized  the  words 
"the,"  "and,"  "but,"  and  several  others  I  certainly  had 
used,  but  beyond  that  I  could  not  recognize  anything. 
The  next  day  the  Virginia  paper  came  to  hand  with  its 


A    DAY  AT  THE  HOT  SPRINGS.  279 

report  of  the  speech,  and  it  bore  no  similarity  to  the  Helena 
report,  and  neither  had  a  complete  sentence  I  had  uttered. 
Dr.  Cass  suggested  that  the  reporters  had  run  out  of  wine, 
and  proposed  a  bottle  to  enable  us  to  compare  the  reports 
carefully.  With  all  his  hospitality,  he  indulged  as  sparingly 
as  I  did  myself,  and  neither  of  us  was  any  the  worse  for 
the  campaign. 

This  is  the  first  day  of  the  trip  I  have  had  even  an  hour 
to  myself;  and  I  took  advantage  of  it  to  rest  at  the  cele- 
brated Hot  Springs,  about  four  miles  from  Helena.  As 
ours  was  but  a  family  party,  Mrs.  General  Meagher  accom- 
panied us.  When  first  I  saw  her  at  a  social  gathering  in 
Virginia,  she  was  the  queen  of  wit  and  beauty.  To-day 
deep  shadows  dim  the  lustre  of  her  eyes  and  sadly  sober 
her  natural  sprightliness ;  but  in  the  midst  of  it  all, 
widowed  and  alone  in  the  mountains,  she  is  as  heroic  in 
sorrow  as  she  was  devoted  in  brighter  days.  I  had  a  de- 
lightful rest.  Some  six  large  springs  rise  here,  ranging  in 
temperature  from  cold  to  almost  boiling  heat,  and  all  are 
strongly  impregnated  with  sulphur  and  other  minerals. 
Baths  are  so  arranged  that  they  can  be  tempered  just  as 
each  bather  prefers ;  and  a  more  refreshing,  invigorating 
luxury  I  have  not  enjoyed  for  a  long  time.  We  were 
served  with  a  dinner  that  would  have  been  creditable  at 
the  Continental.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  road  from  the 
city  to  the  springs  was  lined  with  visitors  of  all  classes. 
Social  or  smitten  pairs  from  the  elite  of  Helena  were  jostled 
on  the  way  by  the  fast  bloods  from  the  mines,  frail  Cyprians 
galloped  through  all  with  the  finest  equipages  on  the  road, 
and  evening  found  a  large  crowd  around  us,  representing 
almost  every  shade  of  virtue  and  vice.  Part  of  the  es- 
tablishment is  devoted  to  the  reputable,  while  the  others — 
perhaps  more  welcome  because  more  profitable — have  their 
parlor,  where  the  fast  gents  and  their  partners  toss  their 


280  VIRTUE  AND    VICE. 

juleps  and  wine  to  strained  wit  and  obscene  jest.  Here, 
in  a  little  circle,  is  the  Far  West  photographed  from  life, 
and  each  class  is  true  to  its  profession.  Crime  comes  not 
in  fair  disguise  to  mingle  with  and  corrupt  the  fountains  of 
virtue,  as  it  does  in  fashionable  resorts  in  the  East,  but, 
unmasked  and  with  that  deference  that  wrong  ever  yields 
to  right,  it  sweeps  along  as  if  impatient  to  hasten  the 
fullness  of  its  sorrow  and  leave  half  its  days  unmeasured. 


LETTER    XXIX. 

The  Head  of  the  Missouri  River.— A  Beautiful  Prospect.— The 
Cliff  on  which  Lewis  and  Clarke  first  viewed  and  named  the 
Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Gallatin  Rivers. — Navigation  of  the 
Upper  Missouri. — From  Gallatin  to  Hoggum. — The  Missouri 
and  Prickly  Pear  Valleys. — The  Fertile  Soil  about  Helena. — 
Helena  C^ty. — Its  Rapid  Growth. — Character  of  its  People. — 
Its  Rich  Bars  and  Gulches. — Water-Ditches. — The  Hangman's 
Tree.— James  W.  Whitlach.— The  Whitlach  Union  Mine.— 
The  Reward  of  Earnest  Development. 

HELENA,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  24,  1867. 
I  LEFT  Gallatin  City  on  Monday  for  another  long  drive 
to  the  chief  city  of  the  Territory.  Before  starting,  I  climbed 
a  high  bluff,  of  limestone  formation,  that  towers  up  between 
the  Jefferson  and  Gallatin  Rivers,  and  had  a  magnificent 
view  of  the  three  rivers  lazily  streaming  out  of  their  re- 
spective valleys,  while  a  few  rods  below  their  waters  are 
united,  and  they  are  lost  in  the  Missouri,  as  it  passes  off 
with  fretful  energy  through  a  narrow  canon  to  the  far 
north.  As  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  the  Gallatin,  Madison, 
and  Jefferson  Yalleys  present  their  green  bottoms,  luxu- 
riant fields,  and  countless  herds  of  the  finest  cattle ;  while 
the  lines  of  the  rivers  and  their  numerous  tributaries  are 
distinctly  marked  by  the  dense  growth  of  timber  on  their 
banks.  I  was  charmed  with  this  beautiful  prospect,  and 
lingered  more  than  an  hour  to  enjoy  its  delightful  contrast 
with  the  parched  waste  of  the  prairies  distant  from  water. 
A  little  more  than  threescore  years  ago,  Lewis  and  Clarke 
stood  in  the  same  place,  and  made  the  first  record  of  the 

25  (  281  ) 


282       NAVIGATION  OF  THE    UPPER  MISSOURI. 

source  of  the  great  river  of  the  West,  and  the  three  rivers 
above  were  then  first  named  in  honor  -of  the  eminent 
statesmen  then  President  and  Cabinet  officers  of  the  nation. 
Then  the  source  of  the  Missouri  was  in  what  were  re- 
garded as  inaccessible  wilds  and  wastes,  where  the  home 
of  the  pale-faces  would  never  be  reared.  To-day  the  most 
bountiful  crops  of  the  world  are  being  gathered  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Upper  Missouri  and  its  tributaries,  and  the 
vast  plains  are  dotted  with  the  ranches  of  the  successful 
husbandman.  But,  rapid  as  has  been  the  march  of  pro- 
gress here  in  the  past,  it  is  only  in  its  infancy.  It  was  not 
a  mere  feverish  speculation  that  planted  a  city  with  sixty- 
four  cabins  at  the  head  of  the  Missouri,  a  few  years  ago. 
True,  it  was  a  step  in  advance  of  progress  itself,  and  the 
cabins  have  disappeared,  with  a  solitary  exception,  to 
grace  the  farms  in  the  neighborhood ;  but  I  doubt  not  that 
they  will  return  in  a  few  years,  and  to  stay.  The  Mis- 
souri has  been  navigated  and  carefully  explored  from  Gal- 
latin  to  the  falls  above  Fort  Benton, — a  distance  of  two 
hundred  miles  by  the  course  of  the  river, — and  there  are 
no  obstructions  whatever.  An  intelligent  gentleman,  who 
was  with  the  exploring  party  last  year,  informed  me 
that  light  boats  can  navigate  the  Missouri  in  the  dryest 
season ;  and  one  or  two  years  at  most  will  see  a  line  of 
steamers  plying  from  the  Falls  into  the  heart  of  the  agri- 
cultural wealth  of  Montana.  And,  while  the  steamers 
will  come  up  from  the  north,  civilization  will  be  extending 
from  Bozeman  City  eastward  into  the  Yellowstone,  and 
the  rich  placers  of  the  Yellowstone,  Big  Horn,  Wind  River, 
and  Muscleshell  will  make  a  continued  line  of  white  su- 
premacy from  the  Mississippi  to  Puget  Sound.  The  won- 
drously  fruitful  valleys  will  fully  supply  the  miners,  and 
the  savage  will  recede  or  die  before  this  "  manifest  des- 
tiny." 


FROM  GALLATIN  TO   HOGGUM.  283 

From  the  head  of  the  Missouri  I  started  nearly  west- 
ward along  the  banks  of  the  Jefferson,  but  soon  turned 
toward  the  north,  across  a  gradual  divide  of  fifteen  miles. 
The  day  was  warm,  and  fifteen  miles  of  successive  foot- 
hills, without  water,  tired  both  team  and  passengers. 
Finally  we  landed  on  Milton  Creek,  with  clear,  fresh 
water,  and  there  we  stopped  to  dine  and  rest.  The  inevi- 
table Missourian  was  our  host,  and  his  photograph-album 
was  not  singular  in  that  region  for  commencing  with  Jeflf. 
Davis,  following  with  General  Price,  and  ending  with 
Wilkes  Booth.  We  dined  on  our  host's  fresh  vegetables 
and  palatable  bread  and  butter,  rather  than  on  his  opinions, 
and  got  along  very  well.  For  more  than  twenty  miles  on 
this  trip  there  was  not  a  field  to  be  seen ;  but  as  we  de- 
scended into  Crow  Creek  Valley  we  found  fruitful  fields 
again.  The  valley  is  quite  large  and  level,  but  is  barely 
supplied  with  water,  as  Crow  Creek  seems  to  be  its  only 
source  for  irrigation,  and  that  has  been  almost  drained  by 
the  miners  on  the  Missouri  side  of  the  bluff.  It  has  an 
abundance  of  most  nutritious  grass,  and  many  fine  herds 
were  grazing  on  it.  From  Crow  Creek  we  had  to  cross 
another  divide,  nearly  in  an  eastern  direction,  making  a 
complete  semicircle  from  Gallatin.  Here  for  the  first 
time  I  found  the  red  shale,  or  slate,  and  on  it  a  sickly 
growth  of  pines.  Evening  brought  me  to  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  divide,  and  again  I  was  on  the  banks  of  the 
Missouri.  It  is  lined  with  contiguous  farms,  and  the  har- 
vests look  excellent.  As  we  passed  down  the  stream,  the 
bottom  widened  until  it  spread  out  a  mile  or  more  on  each 
side,  with  beautiful  table-lands  rising  along  the  foot-hills. 
That  night  we  were  the  guests  of  the  city  of  Hoggum, 
a  small,  new  mining-camp  that  was  "  hogged  up"  by  a 
few  miners,  as  is  alleged,  and  thus  it  won  its  euphonious 
title.  Some  ten  miles  below  is  the  celebrated  Confederate 


284          THE  FERTILE  SOIL   ABOUT  HELENA. 

Gulch,  the  richest  of  the  size  ever  discovered.  Four  men 
cleaned  up  and  took  away  with  them,  last  season,  a  ton  of 
gold,  the  result  of  their  own  labor.  Over  $150,000  was 
cleaned  up  in  it  in  two  days,  last  year ;  and  it  is  still  yield- 
ing very  largely.  Its  name  is  a  reflex  of  the  convictions 
and  sympathies  of  its  discoverers. 

From  Hoggum  to  this  city  is  a  clever  day's  drive  over 
another  divide  between  the  Missouri  and  Prickly  Pear 
Valleys ;  and  the  country  presents  the  parched  and  deso- 
late-looking aspect  now  to  be  seen  everywhere  in  the 
absence  of  water.  As  we  entered  the  Prickly  Pear  Val- 
ley,  the  Missouri  hides  itself  behind  a  series  of  high  foot- 
hills, and  hugs  the  range  closely  as  it  tpils  on  to  the  north, 
and  the  creek  that  bears  the  name  of  the  valley  winds 
around  and  finds  a  passage  to  the  river  through  the  canons 
which  break  the  numerous  ranges  of  bluffs.  The  valley  is 
very  beautiful,  and  quite  productive,  although  hundreds  of 
acres  equally  so  still  invite  the  settler  within  a  mile  of 
Helena.  I  presume  there  is  not  much  difference  between 
the  altitude  of  Prickly  Pear  Valley  and  the  Gallatin;  but 
the  difference  is  probably  in  favor  of  the  Gallatin,  as  vege- 
tation is  here  not  quite  so  much  advanced.  It  is,  however, 
susceptible  of  cultivation  generally,  and  will  one  day  be 
all  appropriated  by  the  husbandman.  The  best-improved 
ranches  (the  invariable  name  for  a  farm  in  the  Far  West) 
I  have  seen  in  Montana  are  in  this  valley.  A  number 
rejoice  in  two-storied  houses, — a  rare  evidence  of  progress 
in  this  country. 

Helena  City  nestles  in  between  a  network  of  mountain- 
cliffs  on  the  southwest  side  of  the  valley,  and,  like  all 
mining-camps,  it  started  with  two  rows  of  cabins  in  the 
gulch,  divided  by  a  very  narrow  street.  Its  location  is 
in  Last  Chance  Gulch, — so  called  because  an  old  miner 
and  his  son,  after  prospecting  the  whole  season,  tried  this 


HELENA    CITY.  285 

gulch  as  their  last  chance  for  "winter  grub."  It  proved 
very  rich;  and  soon  after  an  adventurous  prospecter 
pushed  up  the  ravine  beyond  the  pay-streak,  and  discov- 
ered another  rich  gulch.  His  first  companion  was  a  huge 
grizzly  bear,  which  he  shot  and  feasted  thereon  :  hence 
the  title  of  Grizzly  Gulch  above  the  city.  Here  is  the 
most  marked  evidence  of  progress  to  be  found  in  Montana. 
Virginia  City  has  handled  the  forty  or  fifty  millions  of 
gold  from  Alder  Gulch,  and  is  sobering  down  with  the 
ebbing  tide  into  substantial,  legitimate  business;  but 
Helena  has  all  the  vim,  recklessness,  extravagance,  and 
jolly  progress  of  a  new  camp.  It  is  but  little  over  two 
years  old,  but  it  boasts  of  a  population  of  seven  thousand 
five  hundred,  and  of  more  solid  men,  more  capital,  more 
handsome  and  well-filled  stores,  more  fast  boys  and  frail 
women,  more  substance  and  pretense,  more  virtue  and  vice, 
more  preachers  and  groggeries,  and  more  go-aheadative- 
ness  generally,  than  any  other  city  in  the  mountain  mining- 
regions.  It  has  gradually  swelled  beyond  the  narrow, 
crooked  gulch  to  the  table-lands  ;  and  many  beautiful  cot- 
tages adorn  its  suburbs,  but  still  guiltless  of  shade,  or  even 
of  the  attempt  to  grow  trees.  They  have  not  time  for  that 
yet,  although  water  is  accessible ;  and  they  jostle  along 
against  and  over  each  other  in  the  hurried  race  for  fortune, 
leaving  adornment  for  the  future.  The  city  is  surrounded 
by  gulches,  all  more  or  less  rich  in  the  precious  metals,  and 
two  ditches  have  been  made,  the  one  five  and  the  other  fif- 
teen miles  in  length,  to  bring  water  to  the  bars  and  gulches 
in  and  about  this  place.  One  ditch  carries  one  thousand 
inches  of  water,  and  the  other  five  hundred;  but  so  far 
they  have  not  proved  profitable  to  either  owners  or  miners. 
The  price  charged  for  the  water  is  so  high  that  many  of 
the  flumes  are  idle.  The  only  tree  in  the  city  is  a  short, 
thick  pine,  known  as  "  hangman's  tree,"  on  which  many  a 

25* 


286          MINERAL    WEALTH  AROUND   HELENA. 

desperado  has  yielded  his  life  to  the  terrible  judgment  of 
the  Vigilanters.  It  has  served  its  purpose,  as  the  proper 
authorities  are  now  supreme :  its  topmost  branches  are 
already  dead,  and  it  will  soon  live  only  in  history. 

The  wealth  in  precious  metals  in  and  around  Helena  is 
truly  wonderful.  There  are  hundreds  of  acres  of  bars 
below  the  city  which  will  be  worked  profitably  in  time, 
as  facilities  increase  and  labor  cheapens ;  and  five  miles 
up  the  gulch  I  saw  men  hauling  dirt  from  the  hill-sides  to 
the  streams  below,  and  washing  out  good  wages.  Here 
are  certainly  the  most  extensive  bars  yet  known  in  Mon- 
tana ;  and  I  share  the  conviction  of  the  Helena  people  that 
the  city  must  progress  steadily,  rather  than  recede.  I  had 
time  to  visit  only  two  of  the  many  leads  near  this  place ;  and, 
as  one  of  them  is  the  only  one  thoroughly  developed  in 
the  Territory,  I  will  be  pardoned  for  singling  it  out  in 
contrast  with  the  stupid,  suicidal  policy  of  both  owners 
and  speculators,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  in  previous  letters. 
As  the  lead  is  not  for  sale,  I  feel  warranted  in  using  it  to 
illustrate  what  judicious,  legitimate  effort  will  accomplish 
in  Montana.  It  is  owned  by  James  W.  Whitlach,  who 
came  to  the  mountain-mines  some  years  ago  from  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  without  sufficient  learning  to  enable  him 
to  read  or  write  his  name.  After  various  smiles  and  frowns 
of  fortune  in  California  and  Nevada,  he  came  here  and  dis- 
covered the  "  Whitlach  Union"  lead.  Instead  of  plung- 
ing it  into  speculation,  he  set  about  its  development,  with- 
out means,  and  he  struggled  on,  sacrificing  a  large  share 
of  his  profits  for  want  of  capital,  but  carefully  putting 
every  dollar  realized  into  development,  until  he  has  taken 
out  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  bullion, 
and  has  to-day  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  within  sight 
in  his  shafts  and  tunnels.  His  mine  was  not  half  so  rich 
as  many  others  on  the  surface,  and  at  times  I  noticed  that 


THE    WIIT TLA  Oil   UNION  MINE.  28 1 

it  narrowed  down  to  a  mere  seam  between  the  walls ;  but 
he  persevered  until  he  has  it  now  completely  opened,  and 
will  soon  employ  several  mills  in  its  reduction.  Most  of 
this  valuable  lead  he  owns  exclusively,  while  some  four 
hundred  feet  belongs  to  a  mill-enterprise  in  which  he  is 
half-owner,  giving  half  of  the  four  hundred  feet  for  half  of 
a  thirty-stamp  mill  erected  and  ready  to  run.  After  de- 
veloping his  lead  and  thoroughly  testing  it,  he  can  now 
command  any  amount  of  machinery  on  ft,  on  profitable 
terms.  His  ores  yield  an  average  of  about  thirty  dollars 
per  ton.  Eastern  speculators  will  tell  you  of  better  mines 
than  this  one ;  but  practical  miners  who  have  proved  the 
value  of  leads  have  few  such  stories  to  tell.  Nineteen 
companies  out  of  twenty,  constituted  as  are  most  Eastern 
corporations,  would  have  bankrupted  themselves,  where 
one  persevering  miner,  without  capital,  has  built  up  a 
colossal  fortune,  and  one  that  seems  illimitable.  I  would 
advise  parties  in  the  East,  who  contemplate  embarking  in 
mining-enterprises,  to  select  one  sensible  business-man  to 
visit  and  learn  the  lesson  of  the  Whitlach  mine  before  they 
buy  their  machinery.  But  few  could  fail  if  they  would 
thus  start  right. 


LETTER   XXX. 

The  Trade  and  Prosperity  of  Helena. — The  Immense  Consumption 
of  a  Small  Population. — Climbing  the  Kocky  Range  again. — 
The  Mullen  Wagon-Road  and  Old  Indian  Trail. — Magnificent 
Timber  on  the  Northern  Slopes  of  the  Range. — Fine  Blooded 
Cattle  grazing  on  the  Mountains. — Parting  of  the  Waters. — 
Meadow  Brook. — Brook-Trout. — A  "Batch"  Dinner. — Carpen- 
ter's Bar. — Blackfoot  City. — Political  Speaking. — Competition 
of  the  Gambling-Saloons  and  Bars. — Good  Order  preserved. — 
Democratic  Meeting  on  Sunday. — The  Salute  to  General  Smith. 
— Judge  Williston. 

BLACKFOOT,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  26,  1867. 
I  HAD  a  good  rest  in  Helena,  the  chief  city  of  Montana, 
and  enjoyed  its  liberal  hospitality  and  jolly  people  after  the 
weary  rides  and  nightly  speeches  of  the  previous  week. 
Helena  is  a  specimen  of  a  large  mining  city  or  camp. 
Everybody  goes  on  the  high-pressure  principle,  whether 
to  a  wedding,  a  political  meeting,  to  church,  to  a  frolic,  to 
hang  a  man,  or  to  a  funeral.  The  people  are  not  citizens  in 
the  usual  acceptation  of  the  term.  They  are  residents,  or 
sojourners,  usually  expecting  to  leave  long  before  they  do, 
and  many  will  probably  stay  the  remainder  of  their  lives, 
confidently  hoping  to  get  away  every  spring  and  fall.  Just 
now  the  city  is  crowded  with  goods.  The  trains  have  got 
in  from  the  river,  and  the  fresh  supplies  of  merchantable 
commodities  fill  not  only  the  many  stores,  but  scores  of 
fire-proof  warehouses  besides.  The  main  street  of  Helena 
seems  to  have  everything  for  sale  you  could  find  in  Phila- 
delphia, although  the  prices  vary  somewhat  from  Eastern 
(288) 


CLIMBING    THE  ROCKY  RANGE  AGAIN.        289 

rates.  It  was  to  me  a  study,  when  in  that  city,  how  the 
people  consumed  the  immense  stores  shipped  to  them 
annually.  Montana  has  not  over  forty  thousand  popula- 
tion, and  very  many  of  them  are  poor,  shifting  from  day 
to  day  for  bread ;  and  yet  the  business-men  of  the  Terri- 
tory paid  out  nearly  a  million  of  dollars  this  summer  for 
freights  alone.  The  agricultural  valleys  supply  nearly 
if  not  quite  all  the  flour  consumed,  and  an  abundance  of 
potatoes,  turnips,  and  many  other  vegetables :  yet  more 
than  three  millions  a  year  are  paid  for  dry  goods,  gro- 
ceries, provisions,  vegetables,  fruits,  liquors,  etc.,  by  not 
more  than  forty  thousand  people,  most  of  whom  live  in 
the  rudest  manner  and  spend  little  for  finery.  It  proves 
simply  that  of  all  classes  the  miners  are  the  most  improvi- 
dent, and  as  a  rule  earn  to-day  and  spend  to-morrow,  if  in- 
deed they  do  not  spend  before  they  earn.  Helena  is  now 
the  great  centre  of  trade  for  Montana,  and  the  supplies 
are  immense.  Besides  her  retail  trade,  a  large  wholesale 
business  is  done  by  her  merchants  to  the  small  retailers 
in  the  mining-camps  and  agricultural  settlements.  A  very 
large  capital  is  required  to  carry  on  business,  as  a  whole 
year's  supply  of  all  articles  must  be  purchased  and  shipped 
at  one  time. 

I  left  Helena  on  Saturday  for  this  city, — a  distance  of 
thirty-five  miles  across  the  Rocky  range.  We  crossed  the 
Prickly  Pear  near  the  city,  where  it  is  lined  with  bountiful 
farms,  and  passed  along  the  valley  several  miles  before 
we  commenced  to  climb  the  rugged  foot-hille  of  the  mount- 
ains, which  throw  out  their  huge  spurs  to  the  very  edge 
of  Helena.  Soon  we  came  to  a  canon,  and  swung  off  into 
it  to  commence  the  ascent  of  not  less  than  three  thousand 
feet.  The  road  is  over  a  succession  of  cliffs,  which  are 
thrown  in  the  wildest  confusion  along  and  across  the 
valley  at  every  angle  ;  but  it  is  amazing  with  what  ease 


290        CATTLE   GRAZING    ON  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

comparatively  the  range  can  be  crossed.  For  many  miles 
the  road  follows  an  Indian  trail,  still  distinctly  visible, 
which  has  doubtless  existed  for  centuries.  The  Indians 
come  from  the  Pacific  slopes  to  the  East  to  hunt  for  buffalo, 
and  have  done  so  from  time  immemorial;  and  their  trails 
are  beaten  in  the  earth  often  as  much  as  a  foot  deep.  Part 
of  the  way  we  were  on  the  original  Mullen  wagon-road, 
which  was  located  mainly  by  the  Indian  trail.  For  fifteen 
miles  we  had  little  else  than  bleak,  sterile  hills,  with  sidling 
roads  and  steep  ascents  and  descents,  and  of  course  with- 
out the  sight  of  cultivation.  On  either  side  high  mount- 
ains encompassed  us ;  ahead  of  us  was  the  Rocky  range, 
and  immediately  around  us  were  dozens  of  respectable 
mountains,  while  our  road  took  us  down  one  only  to  com- 
mence to  climb  another.  On  the  north  sides  the  mountains 
are  all  densely  wooded,  as  the  snow  lies  most  of  the  year 
there  and  supplies  moisture,  while  on  all  points  exposed  to 
the  sun  they  are  entirely  bare  of  trees  and  have  but  little 
grass.  In  all  this  mountain-region  I  found  the  finest, 
fattest  cattle,  and  in  one  of  the  ravines  of  the  main  range 
I  met  a  thorough-bred  short-horn  bull  quietly  grazing  on 
the  sweet,  tender  grass  of  the  forest.  I  walked  leisurely 
up  the  range,  and  for  the  first  time  enjoyed  a  genuine,  old- 
fashioned  shade.  The  northeastern  slope  is  covered  with 
large,  fine  timber, — mostly  yellow  pine,  but  mingled  with 
it  is  the  white,  and  almost  every  variety  of  that  wood. 
Here  and  there  a  quaking-asp  (really  a  species  of  cotton- 
wood)  varied  the  foliage ;  but  the  thick,  short,  bushy  pines 
were  the  monarchs  of  the  mountain,  and  the  thin  air  swept 
through  their  foliage  with  the  mellowest  music.  I  saw 
many  yellow  pines  four  feet  across  the  stump,  but  they  do 
not  grow  more  than  two-thirds  the  height  of  such  trees  on 
our  Eastern  hills.  One  venerable  trunk,  nearly  the  last  on 
the  summit,  measured  over  fifteen  feet  in  circumference. 


PARTING   OF  THE    WATERS.  291 

Whenever  we  reached  the  top,  not  a  tree  or  shrub  was 
visible,  excepting  on  the  next  range  a  little  beyond.  A 
clear,  rippling  spring  starts  down  near  the  summit,  and 
within  gun-shot  of  it  another  starts  down  the  western 
slope.  Thus  they  rise  but  a  few  yards  apart,  and  dash  on 
to  the  Eastern  and  Western  Seas.  The  western  slope  of 
the  range  is  covered  with  sickly-looking  grass ;  but  not  a 
shrub  rises  to  break  the  monotony  of  the  scene  until  the 
foot  is  reached,  when  another  range,  nearly  as  high  as  the 
main  one,  presents  its  northwest  forest  of  magnificent  trees 
again.  In  the  ravine,  Meadow  Brook  sweeps  down  around 
the  mountain,  and  seeks  its  grade  to  the  Pacific ;  but  we 
had  to  climb  again  to  reach  our  destination.  Before  doing 
so,  however,  we  had  an  excellent  dinner,  prepared  by  a 
ranchman  who  "  batches  it,"  as  they  say  out  here  when  the 
house  is  without  a  landlady.  There  were  plenty  of  beauti- 
ful brook-trout  sporting  in  the  stream,  but  we  had  not  time 
to  catch  them  and  wait  to  have  them  cooked.  After  dinner 
we  passed  slowly  up  the  second  range,  through  splendid 
timber,  and  fanned  by  refreshing  mountain-breezes  as  they 
sighed  through  the  dense  pines.  When  we  reached  the 
summit  again,  the  same  barrenness  suddenly  began,  and 
not  a  tree  of  any  size  graced  the  southwestern  slopes.  We 
landed  at  its  foot  in  an  extensive  mining-region,  known  as 
Carpenter's  Bar,  where  not  less  than  one  hundred  acres 
have  been  worked  by  hydraulic  process,  besides  the  gulch, 
and  very  profitable  returns  realized.  After  crossing  an- 
other divide,  we  landed  in  this  city,  which  consists  of  two 
rows  of  cabins  about  forty  rods  in  length,  and  a  street 
between  them.  It  has  a  temporary  appearance,  as  it  is 
supported  solely  by  placer-miners,  whose  business  may 
"play  out"  any  time.  Half  the  cabins  are  groggeries, 
about  one-fifth  are  gambling-saloons,  and  a  large  percent- 
age are  occupied  by  the  fair  but  frail  ones  who  ever  follow 


POLITICAL   SPEAKING. 

the  miner's  camp.  One  hotel  consisted  of  a  restaurant  and 
bar  on  the  first  floor,  and  berths  up-stairs  for  lodgers. 
One  little  corner  was  partitioned  off  with  rough  boards,  to 
accommodate  the  few  ladies  who  chance  to  travel  this  way. 
The  people  are  intelligent  and  clever,  and  reasonably  good 
order  is  maintained. 

I  was  placarded  to  speak  Saturday  evening ;  and,  as 
most  of  the  miners  gather  in  at  the  close  of  the  week  for 
their  Sunday  sports,  I  had  a  very  large  audience.  Balls 
soaked  in  kerosene  were  suspended  from  a  post,  which 
brilliantly  illuminated  the  crowd  and  streets.  I  stood  on 
a  box  in  front  of  the  hotel,  with  a  bar  doing  a  brisk  busi- 
ness just  behind  me.  Immediately  on  my  left,  with  double 
doors  and  windows  open,  was  a  gambling-saloon  in  full 
blast,  with  a  faro-bank,  three  or  four  poker-tables,  a  bil- 
liard-table, and  a  bar,  all  liberally  patronized.  On  my 
right  was  an  open  front  with  a  decorated  bar,  attended  by 
several  brilliantly-painted  bar-keepers  of  the  female  persua- 
sion ;  and  next  to  that  was  another  gambling-saloon.  For- 
tunately, there  were  enough  people  to  supply  all  with 
patrons  and  leave  me  a  large  audience  to  talk  to;  but, 
while  I  cannot  complain  of  the  attention,  I  noticed  fre- 
quent surges  from  the  crowd  to  the  saloons, — particularly 
when  the  dealer  on  my  left  (who  was  not  ten  yards  from 
me)  would  call  out,  loud  enough  to  drown  my  voice, 
"  Single  turn,  gents  !  who'll  call  the  turn  ?"  Away  would 
sweep  a  share  of  my  hearers,  and  in  a  little  while  they 
would  gather  <  back  again, — most  of  them,  I  doubt  not, 
sadder  men  than  before.  With  all  the  whisky  poured 
down,  the  audience  was  remarkable  for  its  order.  One  en- 
thusiastic disciple  of  Democracy  came  staggering  out  of  a 
groggery  and  greeted  me  with,  "Dry  up,  old  (hie)  blos- 
som-top !"  but  he  reeled  off  and  left  me  to  do  the  remainder 
of  the  speaking.  I  need  hardly  say,  after  the  description 


DEMOCRATIC  MEETING    ON  SUNDAY.  293 

I  have  given  of  the  place,  that  it  will  be  likely  to  give  a 
Democratic  majority  on  Monday  next. 

Sunday  is  the  great  day  here,  as  in  most  mining-camps, 
for  public  meetings  and  amusements.  To  the  credit  of 
the  Republicans  be  it  said,  they  refused  to  hold  political 
meetings  on  Sunday.  The  Democrats,  however,  held  their 
great  meetings  on  that  day  throughout  the  Territory.  Mr. 
Cavanaugh,  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress,  followed 
me  at  Bozeman  on  Sunday,  and  a  leading  Democratic  can- 
didate preceded  me  at  Hoggum  on  Sunday.  Governor 
Green  Clay  Smith  followed  me  here  last  night  (Sunday) ; 
and  I  notice  that  the  Democracy  are  to  close  the  campaign 
with  a  grand  mass-meeting  in  Virginia  City  next  Sunday 
evening.  Governor  Smith  arrived  yesterday  from  Helena, 
where  he  had  started  in  to  follow  me  around  to  Virginia. 
As  there  are  no  churches,  school-houses,  or  other  decent 
places  of  public  resort,  and  no  place  to  read  even,  every- 
body was  lounging  around ;  and  when  his  excellency  en- 
tered the  city  a  salute  was  fired  from  two  anvils,  much  to 
the  amusement  of  the  few  boys  and  to  the  consternation  of 
the  many  dogs.  In  the  evening  he  spoke  in  behalf  of  the 
Democracy,  to  a  large  audience ;  and  the  side  amusements 
which  divided  my  hearers  from  me  seemed  to  reap  a 
richer  harvest  than  the  evening  before. 

My  old  friend  Judge  Williston  had  met  me  at  Helena, 
accompanied  me  here,  and  will  go  with  me  to  Deer  Lodge, 
where  he  resides.  He  is  as  fastidious,  foppish,  and  genial 
as  ever,  but  complains  that  somebody  will  persist  in  stain- 
ing his  coat  and  shirt  with  tobacco,  and  that  Western 
washwomen  glory  in  tearing  buttons  off  one's  clothes.  He 
is  confessedly  an  able  and  upright  judge,  and  commands, 
as  he  deserves,  the  unbounded  confidence  of  the  people  for 
his  ability  and  integrity.  We  leave  Blackfoot  for  Den- 
Lodge  to-day,  and  without  serious  regrets. 

26 


LETTER    XXXI. 

The  Forests  of  the  Kocky  Kange  on  Mullen's  Pass.— The  Mount- 
ains on  Fire. — Deer  Lodge  Valley. — Its  Mining-Districts. — 
Promising  Gold  and  Silver  Leads. — Exorbitant  Prices  named 
in  Bonds  to  Middle-Men. — Legitimate  Mining. — Failure  almost 
invariably  due  to  Mismanagement. — Deer  Lodge  City. — Its 
Beautiful  Streams  and  Vast  Herds. — Its  Great  Mineral  Spring. 
— Agricultural  Settlements  of  Montana. — The  Missoula  Valley. 
—Growth  of  Fruit. 

DEER  LODGE  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  28, 1867. 
I  LEFT  Helena  on  Saturday  morning  to  fill  an  appoint- 
ment at  Blackfoot  that  evening,  and  had  a  pleasant  trip 
over  the  Rocky  range  and  its  numerous  spurs.  The  ascent 
of  the  range  really  commences  at  Helena ;  for  the  foot-hills 
surround  the  city  on  three  sides.  An  old  Indian  trail, 
that  has  been  traveled  for  centuries  by  the  Indians  of  the 
western  slopes  in  search  of  the  buffalo  of  the  plains, 
located  the  road  most  of  the  way,  and  Captain  Mullen's 
wagon-road  follows  it  until  the  range  is  crossed.  The 
rapid  succession  of  bare  bluffs  over  which  I  climbed  pre- 
sented nothing  novel  until  the  base  of  the  main  range  was 
reached,  when  I  found  thousands  of  acres  of  the  finest 
timber  shading  the  mountains  with  the  darkest  green.  On 
every  angle  of  the  confused  network  of  mountains,  where 
the  sun  had  not  easy  access,  the  growth  of  timber  is  mag- 
nificent, large  yellow  and  white  pines,  measuring  from  three 
to  four  feet  in  diameter.  But  on  the  slopes  exposed  to  the 
sun  there  was  not  so  much  as  a  shrub  to  be  seen,  unless 

(294) 


THE  MOUNTAINS   ON  FIRE.  295 

by  the  side  of  some  little  brook.  Where  the  snow  lies 
most  of  the  year,  moisture  is  supplied  to  sustain  a  boun- 
tiful crop  of  timber  ;  but  not  a  tree  can  grow  on  the  sunny 
sides.  Crossing  the  range  from  the  northeast,  it  presented 
the  appearance  of  our  beautiful  Alleghanies.  The  forest 
was  as  dense  as  any  Pennsylvania  could  produce,  the  ten- 
derest  of  grass  covered  the  earth  beneath  the  plaintive 
whispers  of  the  majestic  pines,  and  herds  of  splendid  cattle 
quietly  grazed  on  its  sweet  and  nutritious  herbage.  On  the 
summit  the  timber  ends  abruptly,  and  with  a  regular  line 
that  looks  as  if  it  had  been  planted ;  while  on  the  top,  and 
down  the  Pacific  slope,  nothing  but  the  usual  growth  of 
parched  and  withered  grass  meets  the  eye.  Two  springs 
rise  within  a  few  feet  of  each  other,  and  dash  off  toward 
the  rising  and  the  setting  sun  to  the  far -distant  seas. 
At  the  foot  of  the  range  I  left  the  old  trail  and  Mullen 
Road,  which  flanks  the  next  range  by  "the  Frenchwoman's 
Ranch,"  and  had  to  climb  another  range  but  little  less 
than  the  main  one.  The  magnificent  view  of  the  mount- 
ains was  greatly  lessened  by  the  dense  volumes  of  smoke 
which  filled  the  atmosphere.  Not  less  than  five  thousand 
acres  of  the  range  seemed  to  be  enveloped  in  fire ;  and  on 
far-distant  ranges  I  could  see  that  the  angry  element  was 
doing  its  work  of  destruction  on  every  side.  The  second 
range  could  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  the  Rocky 
range  in  crossing  it.  The  same  beautiful  timber,  fresh, 
tender  grass,  and  familiar  herds  were  found  on  the  north- 
ern exposure;  the  south  and  west  being  bare  and  deso- 
late. At  the  foot  the  mining-camps  appeared.  Carpen- 
ter's Bar,  with  its  hundred  acres  or  more,  washed  down 
by  hydraulics,  and  a  gulch  turned  over  for  miles,  with  a 
little  town  crowded  along  the  narrow  passage  on  one  side, 
gave  evidences  that  the  main  harvest  of  gold  had  been 
gathered,  and  that  but  few  of  the  less  fortunate  operators 


29fi         THE  MINES  IN  DEEE   LODGE   COUNTY. 

remained.  Hence  over  another  divide  lies  Blackfoot  City, 
a  brisk  mining-camp,  in  which  much  has  been  done,  and 
much  more  remains  to  be  done.  It  is  the  beginning  of  a 
series  of  camps  in  Deer  Lodge  county,  and  for  many  miles 
west  and  south  is  dotted  with  swarms  of  miners,  who 
are  well  repaid  for  their  labors.  Just  now  the  attention 
of  business-men  is  directed  to  this  section.  Its  placer 
mines  have  been  worked  for  several  years ;  but  its  leads 
are  the  newest  in  the  Territory,  and  the  surface-indications 
are  the  best  ever  discovered  in  the  mountains.  They  are 
not  yet  "proven  up,"  as  the  miners  say,  and  they  may  not 
sustain  the  surface-richness  when  they  are  properly  de- 
veloped ;  but  the  top-rock  of  these  mines  is  truly  wonder- 
ful. Flint  Creek  district  abounds  in  silver-leads,  and  they 
are  unusually  alike  in  the  width  of  the  crevices  and  the 
yield  per  ton.  It  is  believed  by  those  who  have  spent  this 
season  in  that  district,  including  many  scientific  and  prac- 
tical men,  that  it  will  surpass  any  silver-region  yet  dis- 
covered. Several  furnaces  are  in  course  of  erection,  and 
this  winter  will  begin  systematic  developments.  Within 
twelve  miles  of  the  silver-mines  a  monster  gold-lead  has 
been  discovered, — the  widest,  I  believe,  found  in  the  Terri- 
tory,— and  it  prospects  very  handsomely.  Silver  Bow,  east 
of  this  city,  has  produced  a  very  large  return  of  gold  ;  and 
Butte  City,  Highland,  and  many  other  districts  have  dis- 
covered what  seem  to  be  most  valuable  leads.  Some  of 
them  range  from  five  to  twenty-five  feet  in  width;  and 
from  the  decayed  surface -rock  good  wages  have  been 
made  by  panning  out  the  gold.  In  Butte  City,  valuable 
copper-mines  are  found,  yielding  as  high  as  forty  per  cent, 
of  copper,  and  some  silver  and  gold  beside.  Of  these  leads 
I  can  express  no  opinion,  beyond  saying  that  they  are  well 
worthy  the  attention  of  capitalists.  It  should  not  be  as- 
sumed that  they  are  to  continue  indefinitely  as  fruitful  as 


LEGITIMATE  MINING.  297 

their  surface-ores  indicate,  and  it  would  be  folly  to  pur- 
chase and  erect  mills  or  furnaces  on  them  before  they  are 
fully  proven ;  but  they  are  well  worth  the  most  thorough 
development,  and  most  of  them  could  be  secured  by  capi- 
talists for  little  outlay  beyond  opening  them  properly,  by 
dividing  the  ownership  with  the  miners.  I  learn  that  one 
of  these  leads  has  been  bonded  to  a  "middle-man"  at 
$1,300,000,  and  it  is  probably  now  in  the  Eastern  market 
with  the  bonds  to  show  the  price  at  which  it  is  held.  It 
may  be  worth  $13,000,000  instead  of  $1,300,000;  but  one- 
twentieth  the  bonded  price  would  buy  any  of  these  unde- 
veloped mines,  and  then  it  would  be  unwise  to  erect 
machinery  on  them  until  they  have  been  opened  to  well- 
defined  and  permanent  leads.  Every  indication  is  favor- 
able about  these  leads,  and  I  would  urge  capitalists  to 
possess  them  and  develop  them  judiciously;  but  let  not 
the  stupendous  monuments  of  folly  which  now  make  Co- 
lorado desolate  and  sickening  be  repeated  here.  I  regard 
legitimate  mining  in  Montana  as  the  safest  and  most  pro- 
fitable investment  men  can  make  in  any  enterprise;  but 
I  have  striven  faithfully,  through  these  pages,  to  save 
capitalists  and  Montana  from  common  misfortune.  An 
association  that  will  devote  a  year  to  the  development  of 
these  new  mines,  which  promise  so  handsomely,  could 
devote  the  second  year  to  the  erection  of  machinery  that 
would  return  colossal  fortunes ;  while  nine  out  of  ten  of 
the  hap-hazard  companies  which  ship  mills  and  then  hunt 
for  mines  would  fail  in  the  same  districts.  I  have  now 
been  through  the  leading  mining-districts  of  the  Territory, 
and  I  have  found  no  failure  in  quartz  mining  that  could 
not  trace  disaster  to  the  stupidity  of  owners  or  directors. 
I  have  not  found  an  idle  or  unsuccessful  mill  that  has  not 
an  abundance  of  first-class  quartz  somewhere  about  it.  A 
few  mills  have  been  sent  here  to  run  on  ores  from  a  single 

2G* 


298  DEER   LODGE   CITY. 

undeveloped  lead,  and  with  its  failure  the  company  fails; 
and  but  few,  after  one  disaster,  will  invest  in  new  leads, 
lest  they  double  their  loss.  Let  me  here  repeat,  as  a  rule 
from  which  there  can  be  no  departure  with  safety,  that  no 
mine  wants  a  mill  for  a  year  after  its  systematic  develop- 
ment is  commenced.  A  few  thousand  dollars  will  answer 
lo  open  a  lead;  and,  if  it  "bilks,"  the  loss  is  not  serious, 
and  others  can  be  secured  and  proven. 

Deer  Lodge  City  is  a  little  village  of  probably  two  hun- 
dred inhabitants,  situated  on  the  river  of  the  same  name, 
and  nearly  central  in  the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful 
valley  I  have  seen  in  Montana.  There  are  no  mining- 
camps  within  ten  miles  of  the  town,  and  it  wears  the  quiet, 
sober  air  of  an  agricultural  community.  The  valley  is  the 
^largest  in  the  Territory,  and  is  very  well  watered.  Numer- 
ous clear'  mountain-streams  sweep  into  it  from  the  west, 
and  thousands  of  cattle  graze  on  its  bountiful  growth  of 
grass.  On  the  west,  the  Bitter  Root  range  walls  the 
valley  in  from  Idaho,  and  its  spurs  are  thrown  out  like 
huge  steps  to  the  edge  of  the  prairie.  On  the  east,  the 
Rocky  range  divides  it  from  the  Jefferson ;  and  between 
them  the  valley  extends  from  five  to  twenty  miles  in  width, 
and  fully  fifty  miles  in  length.  As  yet  it  is  not  exten- 
sively cultivated;  but  occasional  fields  prove  that  it  is 
capable  of  growing  grain  and  vegetables  in  vast  crops. 
Stock-growing  seems  to  be  the  principal  effort  of  the  ranch- 
men; but  it  is  destined  to  be  a  great  agricultural  valley. 
Its  name  is  derived  from  a  peculiar  hot  mineral  spring 
that  rises  near  the  centre  of  the  valley.  The  mineral  sub- 
stance in  the  water  has  incrusted  about  the  spring  until  it 
has  reared  a  mound  thirty  feet  high,  and  one  hundred  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  base.  On  the  top  of  the  mound  the 
water  rises  up  to  the  surface  in  a  strong  volume,  but  does 
not  overflow.  It  runs  off  through  passages  in  the  mound, 


AGRICULTURAL   SETTLEMENTS   OF  MONTANA.      299 

and  rises  again  in  different  places  at  its  base.  I  spent  an 
hour  in  the  examination  of  this  curious  structure,  fashioned 
by  the  ceaseless  efforts  of  the  water,  and  left  it  with  re- 
luctance. In  the  mornings,  and  during  all  the  time  in 
winter,  a  mist  or  fog  rises  from  the  water  at  the  base  of 
the  hill,  in  the  shape  of  a  large  Indian  lodge  or  tent. 
As  it  was  a  favorite  resort  for  the  numerous  deer  be- 
fore the  settlers  drove  them  to  the  mountains,  the  In- 
dians named  the  place  Deer  Lodge:  whence  the  name 
of  the  valley  and  county.  Game  is  still  abundant  in  the 
hills  which  skirt  the  valley.  I  saw  a  yearling  elk  and  a 
moose  calf  grazing  about  the  city,  both  perfectly  tame. 
The  moose  is  most  suspicious  of  men,  and  inhabits  the 
more  remote  ranges ;  but  the  elk  and  deer  still  come  to  the 
outskirts  of  the  settlements,  and  grace  the  boards  of  the 
ranchmen  most  of  the  year  with  their  savory  steaks. 

Of  the  agricultural  settlements  of  Montana,  the  Gallatin 
and  Missoula  Valleys  are  the  most  favored  in  climate, — 
the  eastern  and  western  extremes  of  the  Territory.  I 
learn  that  the  Missoula  grows  the  earliest  and  finest  vege- 
tables raised  in  the  mountains,  although  it  is  the  least 
accessible  of  all  the  agricultural  districts  as  yet.  It  is  the 
northwestern  county  of  the  Territory,  and  is  flanked  by 
the  Bitter  Root  range.  So  favorable  has  the  climate  been 
since  the  settlers  have  been  there,  that  the  more  hardy 
fruits  are  planted,  with  entire  confidence  that  they  can  be 
grown  successfully.*  The  whole  Territory  is  made  up  of 
alternate  mountains  and  valleys, — the  one  studded  with 
the  precious  metals,  and  the  other  teeming  with  the  most 
bountiful  crops  I  have  ever  seen.  In  four  years,  with 


*  I  noticed,  in  the  Helena  papers,  that  several  wagon-loads  of 
excellent  apples,  grown  in  Missoula  Valley,  were  sold  in  Helena 
in  the  fall  of  1868. 


300  FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  MONTANA. 

trackless  mountains  and  hostile  savages  to  confront  the 
pioneer,  this  Territory  has  been  settled  for  nearly  two 
hundred  miles  in  every  direction  from  Helena,  the  cen- 
tral city,  and,  with  not  over  forty  thousand  people,  it  is 
second  only  to  California  in  the  production  of  gold  and 
silver,  and  rivals  that  State  in  the  growth  of  wheat  to  the 
acre.  It  has  been  cursed  with  adventurers  in  both  busi- 
ness and  politics,  as  has  been  the  experience  of  all  new 
Territories ;  but  its  future  will  make  romance  pale  before 
the  swift  march  of  progress. 


LETTER  XXXII. 

Sunday  in  Blackfoot. — A  Pet  Dog  stolen. — A  Bucking  Kiyuse. — 
Western  Riders. — How  they  saddle  and  bridle  Western  Ponies. 
— Conquering  the  Kiyuse. — Judge  Williston. — Deer  Lodge 
City. — Game  in  the  Valley. — Crossing  the  Rocky  Range  again 
at  Big  Hole  Pass. — The  Gradual  Ascent  from  the  West. — 
Another  Batch  Dinner.— The  Batch's  Pets.— Divide  Creek.— 
Its  Waters  coursing  to  both  Oceans. — Fourth  Crossing  of  the 
Rocky  Range. — Big  Hole  Valley. — Hospitality  of  Moose  Creek. 
—A  Delightful  Supper.— A  Bed  of  Doubtful  Color.— A  Struggle 
with  Bedbugs. — A  Loquacious  Landlady. — Her  Untidiness. — 
Her  Conflicts  with  the  Bugs. — A  Dubious  Breakfast. — Two 
Thousand  Miles  of  Pleasant  Staging  in  the  Mountains. 

MOOSE  CREEK,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  28, 1867. 

I  LEFI  the  famous  city  of  Blackfoot  with  few  regrets. 
A  Sunday  there  is  anything  but  pleasant  to  one  who  don't 
gamble,  race  horses,  or  buy  at  street-auctions.  A  sprightly 
terrier,  added  to  our  family  by  the  kindness  of  a  friend 
in  Helena,  was  stolen  and  corraled  under  a  sofa,  and, 
although  my  landlord  was  in  the  house  in  search  of  the 
missing  dog,  the  damsels  who  had  committed  the  theft 
denied  having  any  knowledge  of  her  whereabouts.  After 
we  left  he  returned  and  captured  the  stolen  property,  and 
Governor  Smith,  who  followed  me  all  around,  restored 
the  dog  at  Deer  Lodge,  where  we  closed  our  campaign. 

As  if  some  devilish  infection  pervaded  the  atmosphere 
of  Blackfoot,  one  of  our  horses  (a  kiyuse,  or  native  pony) 
took  a  fit  of  "  bucking"  soon  after  we  left,  and  was  par- 
ticular to  select  the  most  dangerous  portions  of  the  road 

(301) 


302  WESTERN   HIDING. 

for  the  display  of  his  skill  in  that  line.  The  native  horses 
become  singularly  skilled  in  "  bucking,"  and  there  are  few 
riders  who  can  keep  the  saddle  or  make  them  yield  to  the 
lines  when  they  resort  to  their  favorite  amusement. 
Twice  our  kiyuse  broke  nearly  out  of  the  harness,  but, 
after  persuading  him  gently  with  a  stout  club  dropped 
over  his  head,  he  finally  concluded  to  take  us  along  peace- 
ably. Eastern  riders  know  little  of  Western  horseman- 
ship. The  kiyuse  is  never  perfectly  tamed,  and  he  is 
always  rode  or  driven  so  as  to  exercise  all  possible  con- 
trol over  him.  I  have  not  seen  an  Eastern  saddle  or  girth 
in  the  mountains.  The  army  saddle,  or  a  pattern  much 
like  it,  is  in  universal  use,  and  a  broad  hair  band,  with  a 
ring  in  each  end,  serves  for  a  girth.  No  buckles  are  used 
in  fastening  the  saddle.  It  is  set  back  clear  of  the  shoul- 
ders, and  the  band  strapped  as  tightly  as  possible  over 
the  belly,  so  as  to  completely  clear  the  lungs.  Then  a 
sharp  curb  and  a  hair  rein  complete  the  .  outfit.  The 
Western  man  always  rides  at  a  lope,  and  sometimes  at  a 
gallop,  and  when  his  pony  is  worn  down  he  is  turned  out 
to  grass,  and  a  fresh  one  brought  in,  who  usually  "  bucks" 
vigorously  when  he  is  called  into  service.  They  will 
plant  their  heads  down  between  their  front  feet,  and  rear 
and  kick,  keeping  the  head  down,  until  they  unhorse  the 
rider  or  are  flogged  into  submission.  The  usual  way  to 
start  them  is  for  the  rider  to  mount  firmly  and  ply  the 
spurs  (with  rowels  never  less  than  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  I  have  seen  them  as  much  as  three  inches),  and  a 
friend  stands  behind  and  plies  the  raw-hide  whip.  Finally 
the  kiyuse  gives  it  up,  and  with  a  fearful  bound  he  will 
break  off  at  full  speed;  but  he  is  allowed  to  indulge  that 
fancy,  and  is  even  aided  by  vigorous  spurring.  Then 
he  is  safe  until  he  is  turned  out  again,  when  the  same 
struggle  is  gone  over,  with  the  same  result. 


DEER  LODGE   CITY.  303 

There  is  nothing  remarkable  in  the  journey  from  Black- 
foot  to  the  Deer  Lodge  Valley,  beyond  the  usual  confused 
spurs  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  over  which  we  passed  ; 
but  when  we  entered  the  valley  it  presented  a  most  beau- 
tiful appearance.  But  little  farming  is  done ;  but  the 
cattle  which  swarm  on  the  green  bottoms  are  the  finest  I 
have  met  in  all  my  journey.  Their  stock  is  better  bred 
than  are  our  own  cattle  in  Pennsylvania,  and  they  seem 
to  thrive  much  better  here  than  in  our  luxuriant  clover  in 
the  East.  At  Deer  Lodge  City,  the  central  village  and 
county  town  of  the  valley,  we  became  the  guests  of  Judge 
Williston,  who  had  met  us  at  Helena;  and  I  could  not 
resist  the  inclination  to  spend  an  odd  day  with  him  to 
talk  up  the  last  several  years.  The  city  is  pleasantly  laid 
out,  compared  with  the  mining-towns,  as  the  street  is  wide 
and  kept  in  tolerable  order.  Although  no  mining  is  done 
nearer  than  a  dozen  miles,  a  large  trade  is  carried  on  with 
the  different  camps.  I  found  a  young  moose  calf  grazing 
along  the  river-bank ;  and  when  it  saw  me  it  ran  up  to  me 
and  manifested  its  friendly  intentions  by  the  most  plain- 
tive bleating.  Its  face  looked  as  if  Old  Melancholy  had 
fashioned  it  for5  a  model  of  itself,  but  it  was  cheerful  and 
even  jolly  as  it  nipped  the  buds  and  leaves  from  the  bushes. 
They  have  been  very  plenty  in  Deer  Lodge ;  but  as  the 
valley  has  become  settled  the  moose  has  receded  to  the 
mountains.  On  the  commons  near  the  village  a  yearling 
elk  was  browsing,  and  I  paid  his  majesty  a  visit.  His 
bright  eyes,  neat  limbs,  and  quick,  graceful  movements 
contrasted  most  favorably  with  the  awkward  step  and 
stupid,  homely  face  of  the  moose ;  but  in  his  normal  con- 
dition the  moose  is  the  most  valiant  of  all  the  wild  game, 
and  is  not  a  pleasant  foe  to  encounter  nearer  than  rifle- 
range.  One  hunter  informed  me  that  he  killed  one  last 
year  that  weighed  over  seven  hundred  pounds  dressed. 


304  DIVIDE  CREEK. 

From  Deer  Lodge  we  had  a  pleasant  journey  to  this 
place,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles.  We  made  it  in  a  day 
with  a  single  span  of  mules  and  four  passengers,  and 
crossed  the  Rocky  range.  Strange  to  say,  this  place 
has  not  been  dubbed  a  city,  although  it  has  a  large  pole 
cabin,  extensive  stabling,  two  farm-wagons,  several  hay- 
stacks, and  a  trout-stream  that  comes  down  from  the  bluffs 
to  swell  the  boisterous  current  of  Big  Hole  River.  The 
ascent  to  the  summit  is  very  gradual  from  Deer  Lodge, 
and,  without  appreciating  the  fact  that  you  are  crossing 
the  great  backbone  of  the  mountains,  you  find  yourself 
on  the  top,  and  can  look  east  and  west  for  miles  at  the 
beautiful  valleys  below.  We  dined  near  Silver  Bow,  with 
a  Canadian  Frenchman  who  was  "  batching ;"  and  we  could 
not  complain  of  his  table.  Like  all  frosted  bachelors  and 
damsels,  he  had  a  fine  assortment  of  spoiled  pets,  for  the 
want  of  something  better  on  which  to  lavish  his  affections ; 
and  my  chief  trouble  was  to  keep  his  pet  cat  out  of  my 
plate  while  I  was  dining.  When  we  reached  the  summit 
of  the  range,  we  found  the  waters  of  Divide  Creek,  which 
rises  in  a  cliff  to  the  south,  contributing  most  equally  to 
the  Eastern  and  Western  seas.  Naturally  it  courses  to  the 
Missouri ;  but  there  are  rich  bars  of  gold  deposits  six  miles 
west  without  water,  and  the  miners  have  made  a  ditch 
from  the  summit  to  the  bars,  and  turned  all  the  water,  not 
already  appropriated  otherwise,  to  the  Pacific  slopes.  It 
gushes  out  of  the  mountain-rocks  and  dashes  down  the 
prairie  summit,  where  it  strikes  the  dividing  ridge,  and 
thence  half  of  it  turns  off  in  fretful  murmurs  to  the  set- 
ting sun.  For  the  fourth  time  I  stood  on  the  summit  of 
the  Rocky  range  to-day,  and,  although  I  have  been  climb- 
ing mountains  for  seventeen  hundred  miles  since  June 
last, /I  have  never  yet  wearied  of  their  varied  beauty  and 
impressive  grandeur. 


A   BED    OF  DOUBTFUL    COLOR.  305 

From  the  summit  we  had  a  rapid  descent  into  Big  Hole 
Valley, — so  called  because  of  the  rapid  current  and  uneven 
bed  of  the  river  that  sweeps  through  it  close  by  the  mount- 
ain-spur that  bounds  the  prairie  on  the  south.  Hundreds 
of  cattle  were  grazing  all  along  the  eastern  slope  and 
down  in  the  valley;  but  I  saw  no  signs  of  the  husbandman. 
In  a  little  while  we  parted  with  the  river  as  it  turned  off  into 
a  deep,  narrow  canon,  and  we  climbed  a  steep  divide,  at 
the  foot  of  which  is  Moose  Creek. 

Having  traveled  sixty  miles  with  a  light  team,  a  heavy 
load,  and  a  hot  sun,  we  were  glad  to  stop  for  the  night, 
and  we  all  felt  that  our  lots  had  been  cast  in  a  pleasant 
place  as  we  sat  down  to  a  dish  of  trout  just  taken  from 
the  brook.  True,  things  did  not  look  as  clean  as  I  have 
seen  them ;  but  we  were  tired  and  hungry,  and  did  not  in- 
spect them  too  closely.  The  house  being  crowded,  my 
couch  was  made  up  on  the  earthen  floor  in  the  kitchen,  and 
consisted  of  a  bed  filled  with  musty  hay,  and  I  lost  several 
hours  of  sleep  trying  to  conclude  what  color  the  ticking 
had  been  when  it  was  clean.  The  landlord  and  landlady 
had  their  bed  in  the  opposite  corner,  and  the  children  were 
piled  in  around  the  cook-stove  as  circumstances  would 
allow.  During  the  night  I  had  more  than  visions  of  in- 
numerable companions  in  bed,  with  savage  appetites  and 
unpleasant  habits  of  locomotion.  To  struggle  with  them 
was  vain,  and  I  bore  their  fellowship  with  all  the  philoso- 
phy I  could  command.  Weary  nature  gave  me  some 
sleep  in  spite  of  bedbugs;  and  when  I  awoke  in  the 
morning  the  landlady  was  making  up  the  biscuits  for 
breakfast.  As  soon  as  she  saw  I  was  awake,  she  dis- 
played the  proverbial  sociability  of  Western  people  by  en- 
tering into  a  spirited  conversation,  made  up  mainly  of 
interrogatories  on  her  part  and  monosyllables  on  mine.  As 
I  was  lying  on  the  floor,  I  had  a  good  view  of  her  feet, 

27 


306          TWO   THOUSAND  MILES   OF  STAGING. 

and,  after  mature  reflection,  decided  that  she  had  not  washed 
them  since  spring,  if  even  then;  and,  if  they  were  to  be 
cleaned  up  for  winter,  I  concluded  that  nothing  short  of  a 
grindstone  run  by  water-power  would  scour  them  white. 
"  Bedbugs  are  aw-ful  critters,"  said  she,  as  she  jammed 
another  biscuit  into  the  pan.  "  They  do  beat  me,  all  I 
can  do,  here ;  I  hain't  no  beds  put  up  in  the  house,  jist  for 
that,"  she  added.  The  table-cloth  was  hanging  over  a 
chair  that  stood  between  us,  and  just  then  she  made  a 
brilliant  dash  at  it  with  her  doughy  fingers,  captured  two 
bugs  on  their  morning  stroll,  and  flung  them  into  the 
stove.  "  They  do  be  aw-ful,"  she  continued,  as  she  plunged 
into  the  dough  again  and  hurried  up  the  breakfast.  In  a 
little  while  I  decided  that  the  less  I  saw  of  the  baking  and 
cooking  the  more  I  would  relish  my  breakfast ;  and,  in  the 
midst  of  a  running  conversation  with  my  sociable  and 
genial  hostess,  I  made  a  hurried  toilet  and  took  a  walk  to 
fortify  myself  for  the  coming  meal.  But  my  fastidious 
appetite  got  the  better  of  me ;  and  beyond  a  cup  of  miser- 
able coffee  and  a  slice  of  stale  bread  I  had  not  seen  made 
up,  I  could  not  indulge.  Some  of  the  guests  enjoyed  the 
smoking  biscuits  ;  but  I  concluded  that  they  had  not  seen 
them  baked,  as  I  did. 

We  have  now  fifty-five  miles  to  Virginia  City,  when  we 
shall  have  made  a  circuit  of  four  hundred  miles  through 
the  main  valleys  and  mines  of  Montana,  and  traveled  two 
thousand  by  stage  since  we  left  the  railroad  at  Platte  City 
in  Nebraska, — all  but  three  hundred  miles  of  it  through 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  So  far,  we  have  had  but  one  inno- 
cent upset  (on  the  Wasatch  range),  and  no  other  accident 
of  any  kind.  We  have  all  steadily  improved  in  health, 
and  unite  in  our  tribute  to  the  fine,  invigorating  climate, 
sweet  waters,  and  unaffected  hospitality  we  have  found  in 
the  Far  West. 


LETTER    XXXIII. 

Deer  Lodge  Elver  and  its  Tributaries. — Highland  and  Butte  City 
Mining-Districts. — Marvelous  Yield  of  Ores. — Big  Hole  Val- 
ley.— Beaver-Head  River  and  Valley. — Ravages  of  the  Grass- 
hoppers.— Stinking  Water  Valley  and  its  Fine  Improvements. — 
Lorrain's  Eanch. — His  History. — A  Settler  for  a  Quarter  of  a 
Century. — His  Brides. — His  Last  Best  Gift,  and  how  he  got  her. 
— His  Vast  Possessions. — Komantic  Fishing-Parties. — Pleasant 
Rides  over  the  Prairie. — Alder  Gulch  and  its  Wealth. 

LORRAIN,  MONTANA  TERR.,  August  29,  1867. 
FROM  Deer  Lodge  City  to  the  summit  of  the  Rocky 
range  is  a  gradual  ascent  for  nearly  forty  miles, — so  grad- 
ual, indeed,  that  the  top  is  reached  without  any  of  the 
abrupt  hills  and  deep  chasms  so  common  in  climbing  the 
mountains.  For  about  twenty-five  miles  the  road  follows 
Deer  Lodge  River,  crossing  numerous  clear  mountain- 
streams  which  enter  it  from  the  west,  and  traversing  the 
most  beautiful  valley  I  have  found  in  the  Territory.  Its 
altitude  is  greater  than  that  of  the  Gailatin  or  the  Jeffer- 
son, and  agriculture  is  not  so  generally  prosecuted ;  but  the 
largest  herds  of  the  finest  cattle  dot  the  prairie  in  every  di- 
rection. No  sign  of  mining  is  seen  on  the  route  until  Silver 
Bow  Creek  is  reached,  when  the  murky  waters  tell  that  it  is 
employed  to  aid  the  miners  to  produce  the  precious  metals. 
The  creek  winds  off  from  the  road  through  a  short  canon 
to  the  city  of  Silver  Bow,  nestling  behind  an  abrupt  cliff, 
and,  as  I  passed  up  the  last  hill  of  the  range,  I  found 
placer-mines  being  worked  in  a  large  bar  on  one  of  the 
benches  of  the  summit.  A  creek,  that  rises  in  a  bluff  south 

(307) 


308         HIGHLAND   AND   BUTTE   CITY  MINING. 

of  the  road  on  the  mountain-top,  has  been  turned  from  the 
eastern  seas  to  wash  the  placers  of  the  Pacific  slope  and 
then  find  its  way  to  the  ocean  with  the  setting  sun.  It  is 
carried  in  a  ditch  for  some  six  miles,  where  it  gurgles 
through  the  sluices,  and  lodges  the  gold  in  various  traps, 
as  it  carries  with  it  the  earth  shorn  of  its  precious  deposits. 
In  the  Silver  Bow  district  the  gold  is  mixed  more  or  less 
with  silver :  hence  its  name. 

From  the  summit  I  could  see,  off  to  the  northeast,  a 
road,  winding  up  over  a  steep  bluff,  apparently  leading  to 
the  high  mountain-cliffs  which  lie  beyond  ;  but  it  plunges 
into    another   mining-district,  hidden   among  the  broken 
sweep  of  ranges.     Highland,  with  its  new  leads  of  mar- 
velous width,  filled,  as  far  as  developed,  with   decayed 
quartz,  is  there;  but  no  mills  have  yet  ventured  to  try  the 
new  district.     Several  arastras  are  in  operation,  and  very 
satisfactory  results  have  been  obtained.    Still  farther  to  the 
northeast  lies  Butte  City,  almost  shadowed  from  sunlight 
by  the  towering  mountains,  and,  with  silver  and  gold,  rich 
copper-veins  are  there  found.    A  trial  of  some  of  the  Butte 
City  ores,  in  a  smelting-furnace,  turned  out  fifty  per  cent,  of 
metal,  and  the  metal  assayed  three  hundred  and  ninety  dol- 
lars of  silver  and  gold  to  the  ton, — the  rest  being  copper.  I 
saw  four  assays  made  from  the  same  metal,  and  they  did 
not  vary  materially.    The  ore  was  selected,  of  course,  and  I 
do  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  mines  there  will  yield  any- 
thing like  such  results  ;  but  I  mention  the  trial  to  show 
the  various  combinations  of  metals  Montana  produces.    If 
one-tenth  such  results  can  be  obtained  from  leads  which 
have  an  abundant  supply  of  ore,  they  will  be  worked  with 
great  profit.     Neither  Highland  nor  Butte  City  leads  have 
been  tested  with  any  degree  of  thoroughness;  but  their 
surface-indications  are  most  flattering. 

From  the  summit  we  had  a  short  drive  down  to  Moose 


BEAVER-HEAD  RIVER   AND    VALLEY.  309 

Creek,  where!  was  glad  to  rest  after  a  drive  of  sixty  miles 
over  the  Rocky  range  with  a  light  mule-team  and  a  heavy 
load.  From  the  summit,  east,  the  road  flanks  Big  Hole 
River,  a  rapid  stream  that  dashes  through  canons  and 
over  little  plains  for  nearly  thirty  miles  before  it  gets  away 
from  the  mountains.  Owing  to  the  rapid  fall,  and  the  con- 
sequent swiftness  of  the  current,  its  bed  is  washed  in  large 
holes,  from  which  it  derives  its  name.  Finally  it  turns 
abruptly  to  the  northeast,  and  crosses  Big  Hole  Valley  on 
its  way  to  join  the  Jefferson.  The  valley  is  small,  and 
covered  with  excellent  pasturage,  but  I  noticed  no  farming 
of  any  account.  I  crossed  the  river  on  a  substantial  bridge, 
and  hundreds  of  wild  ducks  were  sporting  on  the  water  as 
I  passed,  while  in  the  clear,  deep  stream  an  abundance  of 
large  fish  tempted  the  angler.  From  the  Big  Hole  the  road 
crosses  a  level  plain  five  miles  in  width,  when  the  Beaver- 
Head  River  is  reached.  It  comes  out  from  the  mountains 
in  nearly  a  due  northern  line,  and  takes  its  name  from  a 
rock  that  adorns  one  of  the  cliffs  near  its  source,  shaped 
like  a  beaver's  head.  I  dined  on  the  river-bank,  and  found 
it  uncomfortably  hot.  We  had  descended  so  rapidly  from 
the  summit  that  in  twenty  miles  we  were  on  a  lower  alti- 
tude than  the  Deer  Lodge  Valley,  and  bountiful  crops  of 
vegetables  were  on  the  river-bottom ;  but  the  grasshoppers 
had  appropriated  every  blade  and  stock  of  grain.  From 
the  Beaver-Head  I  took  the  southern  road,  between  the 
Stinking  Water  and  the  mountains,  and  had  a  continuous 
and  splendid  view  of  the  Stinking  Water  Valley, — one  of 
the  most  fruitful,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  in  the  Territory. 
Here,  and  in  the  little  valleys  running  southward  between 
the  mountain-spurs,  are  the  finest  retreats  for  cattle  in  the 
winter ;  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  turn  out  poor  oxen  in 
the  fall,  leave  them  to  feed  themselves,  and  bring  them 
back  in  the  spring  in  excellent  order  for  the  butcher's  stall. 

27* 


310  LOR  RAIN'S  RANCH. 

The  improvements  in  this  valley  are  the  best  I  have  found 
in  Montana.  Good  stables  are  erected  on  almost  every 
ranch,  and  the  houses  have  an  air  of  neatness  and  comfort 
not  usual  in  the  new  settlements.  Among  them  I  noticed 
several  two-storied  frame  buildings,  and  luxuriant  gardens 
around  them ;  but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  grow  shade- 
or  fruit-trees.  It  is  probable  that  fruit-trees  would  not 
stand  the  weather ;  but  the  cottonwood,  if  properly  planted 
and  watered,  would  give  a  pleasant  shade  in  a  very  few 
years.  As  all  the  farms  are  on  the  river-bottom,  none  of 
them  have  good  water.  The  wells  on  the  river-bank  are 
all  more  or  less  brackish  as  soon  as  the  snow-water  has 
passed  oif,  and  there  are  very  few  springs.  Latterly,  the 
settlers  are  beginning  to  renew  their  improvements  on  the 
beautiful  table-lands  which  come  close  to  the  river,  and 
there  they  find  excellent  water  by  digging  from  twenty  to 
thirty  feet.  I  saw  but  one  spring  in  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles,  and  it  threw  out  a  volume  of  water  more  than  a  foot 
in  diameter. 

About  sunset  I  crossed  the  Stinking  Water  at  this  place, 
and  found  pleasant  quarters  for  the  night.  It  is  known  as 
"  Ten  Mile  Creek,"  and  as  "  Lorrain's  Ranch,"  as  it  is 
called,  ten  miles  from  Virginia  City,  and  is  owned  by  a 
Canadian  Frenchman  by  the  name  of  Lorrain.  He  is  an 
old  mountaineer,  although  still  on  the  sunny  side  of  fifty, 
and  kicks  the  beam  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  avoir- 
dupois, while  his  wife  follows  the  fashion  of  her  lord,  and 
even  excels  him  a  few  pounds  in  the  race  for  the  domestic 
heavy-weights.  He  was  one  of  the  early  settlers,  or 
rather  wanderers,  in  Montana.  Twenty-five  years  ago  he 
commenced  trading  here  with  the  Indians,  and  has  followed 
it  until  now.  His  usual  course  in  his  trading  operations 
was  from  Fort  Benton  by  Deer  Lodge,  through  to  Brid^vr. 
•  and  around  by  the  Yellowstone.  Thus  for  a  quarter  of  a 


LORRAIN'S    VAST  POSSESSIONS.  311 

century  he  has  inhabited  this  desolate  mountain-region 
along  with  Bridger  and  others ;  and  it  is  his  crowning 
grief  now  that  civilization  has  usurped  the  channels  of 
trade  and  is  likely  soon  to  have  railroads  through  his  favor- 
ite trails.  He  has  been  blessed  in  his  family,  and  in  bas- 
ket and  store.  Until  a  few  years  ago  he  chose  his  tender 
partners  from  the  dusky  maidens  of  the  forest,  changing 
them  at  pleasure,  according  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  tribes  J 
but  in  1864  the  noble  red  men  widowed  a  woman  on  the 
plains  by  butchering  and  scalping  her  husband,  while  she 
was  miraculously  saved,  and  my  fat  and  jolly  host  healed 
the  wounded  heart  by  making  her  his  lawful  wife  and  dis- 
carding all  entangling  alliances  with  his  Hiawathas.  No 
children  bless  the  new  alliance ;  but  I  noticed  half  a  dozen 
little  half-breeds  at  their  antics  in  and  about  the  house.  To 
whom  they  belong  I  know  not;  but  they  broke  bread  from 
the  same  loaf  with  us. 

Mr.  Lorrain  is  but  one  of  a  number  of  Canadian  French- 
men who  have  peopled  this  country  for  twenty-five  years, 
trading  with  the  Indians  ;  but  of  all  of  them  he  has  most 
prospered.  Although  unable  to  make  an  entry  in  his  own 
books,  he  is  estimated  to  be  worth  $500,000.  He  digs  no 
gold,  and  would  not  give  a  "  kiyuse"  for  the  best  gold-lead 
in  the  Territory  to  work  it.  His  forte  is  to  traffic  with 
everybody;  and  the  result  is  that  he  owns  all  the  stores, 
bridges,  and  most  of  the  ranches,  cattle,  horses,  and  mules, 
for  fifty  or  one  hundred  miles  along  the  valley.  The  Big 
Hole  bridge  alone  yields  him  eight  thousand  dollars  a  year 
in  gold.  He  owns  the  finest  winter  pastures,  and  each  fall 
he  exchanges  sound  and  fat  oxen,  horses,  and  mules  with 
those  unlucky  enough  to  have  broken-down  animals,  and 
by  spring  they  are  restored,  and  ready  to  be  jockeyed  off 
again  for  two  or  three  times  their  number  of  cripples.  His 
herds  are  scattered  over  the  Beaver-Head,  Stinking  Water, 


312         PLEASANT  RIDES   OVER    THE  PRAIRIE. 

Big  Hole,  and  Deer  Lodge  valleys ;  and  his  stores  are 
found  in  every  settlement,  with  their  supplies  of  canned 
fruits  and  vegetables,  groceries,  a  few  dry  goods,  a  profu 
sion  of  prepared  cocktails,  bitters,  etc.,  and  every  variety 
of  robes  and  skins.  He  lives  in  modern  style  since  his 
white  wife  has  shared  his  fortune,  and  would  be  a  con- 
tented man  but  for  the  inexorable  march  of  progress  to 
found  new  empires  in  the  Great  West.  A  few  yards  above 
his  house,  Alder  Gulch  joins  the  Stinking  Water,  with  its 
muddy  waters  from  the  flumes  and  sluices  of  the  miners  ; 
but  above  the  confluence  of  the  streams  the  Stinking 
Water  is  clear,  and  densely  peopled  with  the  finny  tribe. 
Here  come  romantic  anglers  and  maidens  from  the  city 
to  tell  love's  tender  story  and  whisper  sweet  nothings 
among  the  bushes,  as  they  tantalize  the  jolly  trout  with 
their  awkwardness.  They  mount  fleet  horses  and  gallop 
over  the  smooth  prairie  roads,  as  if  the  race  was  for  the 
capture  of  partners,  as  in  olden  times.  It  is  but  a  pleasant 
after-tea  ride  to  sweep  over  twenty  miles;  and  horses  and 
riders  seem  to  be  invigorated  rather  than  wearied  by  the 
exercise.  Between  this  place  and  Virginia  there  is  a  suc- 
cession of  rolling  hills,  and  the  ranches  and  fields  turn 
southward  into  the  numerous  valleys.  The  road  to  the 
city  follows  the  course  and  grade  of  Alder  Gulch,  and 
there  are  few  habitations  until  the  miners  are  reached, 
about  five  miles  west  of  Virginia.  Junction  is  the  lower 
village  on  the  gulch,  then  comes  Nevada,  and  Central  is 
the  connecting  link  between  that  and  Virginia;  but  all 
bear  the  impress  of  decay.  The  gulch  has  been  worked 
now  for  fifteen  miles,  and  none  but  the  patient,  industrious, 
economical  Chinamen  can  make  wages  in  its  deep  shafts 
and  drifts  and  its  shapeless  heaps  of  earth.  A  few  regu- 
lar miners  linger  in  favorite  streaks,  while  others  are  wash- 
ing down  the  hill-sides  by  the  hydraulic  process;  but  only 


ALDER    GULCH  AND   ITS    WEALTH.  313 

by  one  grand  bed-rock  flume  can,  perhaps,  half  the  remaining 
millions  of  gold  be  taken  from  Alder.  No  leads  are  found 
below  Virginia,  and  all  discovered  for  five  miles  above  the 
city  have  more  or  less  of  silver,  and  did  not  contribute  to 
the  forty  or  fifty  millions  already  washed  from  the  gulch. 
From  Summit  its  wonderful  deposits  have  been  decaying 
and  sweeping  down  for  untold  centuries ;  and  their  nuggets 
slept  forty  feet  beneath  the  gathering  earth,  while  the  finer 
particles  coursed  downward  until  the  precious  metal  be- 
came too  fine  to  be  saved  by  any  ordinary  process. 


LETTER  XXXIY. 

The  .Mineral  Wealth  of  Montana. — Recent  Discoveries  of  Mines 
of  Great  Promise. — The  Economical  Delivery  of  Ores. — Causes 
of  Failure  of  Mills. — Improved  Machinery  coming  into  the 
Territory. — Prospects  of  Legitimate  Mining  in  Montana. — The 
"Freeze-Out  Game." — Judicious  Development  of  Mines  much 
needed. — How  Gold-Mines  are  discovered. — The  Prospector. — 
His  Love  of  Adventure.— His  Dream  of  Gold. — His  Reckless- 
ness of  Life. — How  much  he  contributes  to  the  Nation,  and 
how  poorly  rewarded  himself. — Rushing  from  Diggings  to 
some  New  Eldorado. — The  Salmon  River  Stampede. — The 
•  Prospector's  Dream  of  Home. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  September  10,  1867. 
EVERY  day  seems  to  develop  new  sources  of  wealth  in 
Montana.  There  are  now  hundreds  of  good  leads  of  gold 
and  silver  in  the  Territory,  whose  yield  has  been  well 
tested,  which  are  waiting  for  wisely-directed  capital  to 
make  them,  produce  most  satisfactory  results.  I  have  ex- 
plained in  a  former  letter  how  many  of  the  best  leads  are 
owned  in  small  claims  and  fractions  of  claims,  so  as  to 
effectually  preclude  successful  development.  But  it  is  now 
understood  by  owners  here  that  the  time  is  past  when 
Eastern  capitalists  will  risk  their  money  in  fractions  of 
leads,  scattered  so  that  none  of  them  can  be  worked  pro- 
fitably. I  notice  that  in  the  recent  discoveries,  some  of 
which  are  of  marvelous  richness,  care  is  taken  in  most  in- 
stances to  have  a  sufficient  amount  owned  or  controlled 
by  one  man,  or  one  interest,  to  justify  thorough  develop- 
ments; and  this  important  fact  will  give  the  new  leads 
(314) 


CAUSES  OF  FAILURE   OF  MILLS.  315 

decided  advantage  over  many  of  the  older  ones  when  com- 
panies seek  for  mines.  Hitherto  there  has  been  no  such 
thing  as  economical  delivery  of  ores  from  the  mines  of 
Montana,  and  mills,  as  a  rule,  have  been  of  an  indifferent 
quality.  They  have  been  erected  and  started  as  if  they 
had  to  be  run  but  a  season  or  two  at  most,  and  the  proper 
development  of  mines  was  not  warranted.  This  year 
some  of  the  very  best  mills  are  arriving,  both  from  the 
East  and  California,  and  in  many  instances  the  mines  are 
being  handled  in  the  most  methodical  manner.  Although 
the  location  of  the  richest  leads  in  this  mountain-region 
gives  the  best  opportunities  for  delivering  ores  by  tunnels 
at  half  the  cost  of  shafting,  I  do  not  know  of  any  company 
that  has  attempted  to  tunnel  until  this  season;  and  I 
doubt  whether  any  mill  in  the  Territory  is  as  yet  supplied 
in  that  manner.  In  very  many  cases,  companies  own 
only  fractions  of  leads,  and  cannot  tunnel  without  doing 
as  much  for  the  benefit  of  others  as  for  themselves.  They 
are  therefore  compelled  to  sink  shafts  to  work  one  hun- 
dred or  two  hundred  feet ;  and  thus  the  cost  of  mining  is 
enormous,  with  wages  from  five  to  eight  dollars  per  day. 
I  am  glad  to  observe,  however,  that  most  of  the.  develop- 
ments started  this  season  have  been  by  tunnels,  and  gen- 
erally a  degree  of  system  and  far-reaching  direction  is 
taking  the  place  of  the  efforts  to  produce  gold  by  mere 
temporary  and  imperfect  working  of  leads.  No  com- 
pany or  association  should  undertake  the  mining  and  re- 
duction of  Montana  ores  without  being  fully  assured  that 
they  are  prepared  to  do  the  best  work  at  the  minimum 
cost.  Science  and  skill  must,  as  far  as  it  is  possible, 
economize  labor,  or  profits  will  be  speedily  wasted.  Some 
companies  have  failed  in  this  region,  because  they  had  no 
earthly  chance  to  succeed ;  and  some  have  succeeded  in 
spite  of  the  imbecility  of  their  direction.  Mills  have  been 


316  PROSPECTS   OF  LEGITIMATE  MINING. 

erected  here,  as  in  Colorado,  without  testing  leads;  and 
when  the  leads  intended  to  supply  the  mills  failed,  the 
almost  boundless  wealth  around  them  has  saved  them 
from  disastrous  failure.  No  good  quartz-mill  should  fail 
in  Montana,  even  if  the  owners  have  been  utterly  defrauded 
in  their  mines.  I  believe  that  there  is  not  a  mill  in  any 
part  of  the  Territory  where  custom-work  (crushing  for 
other  parties)  could  not  be  had  at  a  fair  price  to  employ 
it;  and  it  must  be  so  for  several  years  to  come.  Some  mills 
are  failures  because  the  machinery  is  imperfect  and  will 
not  crush  the  ores  or  save  the  gold  successfully.  Indififer- 
ent  machinery  may  be  used  for  many  purposes  in  the 
States,  where  the  business  to  which  it  is  applied  is  well 
understood  and  repairs  cheap  and  easily  procured ;  but  an 
imperfect  quartz-mill  in  Montana  is  not  worth  erecting.  I 
noticed  one  mill,  owned  in  Pennsylvania,  that  has  a  good 
building,  plenty  of  ore  about  it,  a  large  lot  of  wood  ranked 
up  (worth  seven  dollars  per  cord  in  gold),  and  the  ma- 
chinery gave  out  hopelessly  in  working  less  than  five  tons 
of  ore. 

Of  the  mills  now  in  course  of  erection  in  Montana,  I 
believe  that  nine  out  of  ten  will  be  positively  successful. 
The  machinery  is  generally  of  the  most  improved  order, 
and,  as  a  rule,  they  are  under  the  supervision  of  experi- 
enced and  practical  men.  The  sad  fate  of  so  many  mining- 
companies  in  Colorado,  most  of  which  were  the  offspring 
of  feverish  speculation,  has  been  of  most  essential  service 
to  this  Territory,  and  I  look  for  but  few  failures  of  the 
mills  hereafter  erected  or  now  being  erected.  The  mines 
are  so  numerous,  and  so  generally  rich,  that  good  ma- 
chinery and  good  management  can  scarcely  fail.  I  have 
paid  much  attention  to  the  mineral  wealth  of  Montana 
during  the  month  I  have  been  here,  and  I  must  to-day  re- 
peat, with  increased  confidence,  the  invitation  made  in  a 


RICH  SILVER-ORBS:  317 

recent  letter  for  $20,000,000  of  capital  to  develop  the  vast 
wealth  of  these  mountains.  True,  there  must  be  occasional 
disappointments  by  unexpected  and  unaccountable  failure 
of  leads  which  promised  well,  and  now  and  then  a  culmi- 
nation of  misfortune  that  human  foresight  and  energy 
cannot  control;  but  the  proper  outlay,  under  judicious 
direction,  cannot,  as  a  rule,  fail  to  return  immense  profits 
to  the  owners  of  mines  and  mills  in  this  section.  The 
mines  have  not  been  as  fully  tested  as  in  California;  but 
all  scientific  and  practical  experience  must  be  at  fault,  if 
the  Montana  mines  do  not  increase  in  richness  as  they  are 
developed.  In  no  other  country  in  the  world  are  the  leads 
better  defined  or  less  capricious  than  here;  and  thus  far 
there  has  been  no  trouble  in  the  complete  mastery  of  the 
ores  by  ordinary  machinery.  Some  of  the  richest  ores 
contain  sulphurets ;  but  so  far  the  Montana  miner  wel- 
comes them  as  evidence  of  increased  richness,  instead  of 
accepting  them  as  an  impediment  to  reduction,  as  in  Colo- 
rado. But,  whatever  may  be  the  character  of  the  ores 
here,  when  the  leads  have  been  tested  to  the  depth  at- 
tained in  California,  there  is  enough,  and  more  than 
enough,  of  easily-mastered  ores  in  this  Territory  to  serve 
the  purposes  of  the  present  generation.  Those  who  are 
not  especially  interested  in  the  mining-operations  of  pos- 
terity need  not  borrow  any  trouble  about  the  abundance 
and  simplicity  of  the  gold-ores  of  Montana.  The  reduc- 
tion of  the  rich  silver-ores  here  has  been  attended  with 
some  difficulty  in  certain  localities,  and  has  been  easy 
and  successful  in  others.  Quite  a  number  of  silver-leads 
contain  the  necessary  amount  of  galena  to  smelt  them 
economically,  and  the  litharge  is  worth  from  two  hundred 
and  fifty  to  three  hundred  dollars  per  ton,  or  twelve  to 
fifteen  cents  per  pound.  The  litharge  from  silver-ores, 
adapted  to  smelting,  contains  about  seventy-five  to  eighty- 

28 


318  TUB  "FREEZE-OUT  GAME." 

five  per  cent,  of  pure  lead.  In  the  entire  absence  of  galena 
in  the  silver-ores,  they  are  crushed  and  amalgamated  suc- 
cessfully by  the  process  employed  for  the  reduction  of 
gold-ores. 

Let  me  here  throw  out  a  timely  caution  to  all  Eastern 
capitalists  who  have  invested,  or  may  contemplate  invest- 
ing, in  distant  mining-companies.  It  is  perilous  to  place 
money  at  the  disposal  of  corporations  without  being  fully 
assured  of  the  integrity  of  the  controlling  parties.  The 
"  freeze-out"  game  is  a  common  and  luxuriant  growth  in 
successful  mining-sections.  I  have  seen  several  establish- 
ments arbitrarily  closed  by  a  few  in  immediate  control,  to 
depress  the  shares  and  force  other  owners  to  sell  at  a 
sacrifice.  I  could  now  chalk  the  hats  of  managers  in  Mon- 
tana wh6,  after  using  the  capital  of  all  the  share-holders  to 
prove  the  value  of  their  mills  and  mines,  have  closed  their 
mills  on  various  pretexts,  and  mean  that  there  shall  be 
no  profits  realized  until  the  flattened-out  stock  can  be 
gathered  into  the  hands  of  the  few  who  govern  the  inner 
circle  of  the  direction.  In  mining-regions,  I  regret  to  say, 
this  is  but  too  generally  considered  a  legitimate  business 
transaction,  and  Eastern  men  of  fair  standing  are  often 
seized  with  the  infection  when  they  are  sent  out  as  the 
guardians  of  the  interests  of  stockholders.  There  are  perils 
enough  in  all  enterprises  so  distant  from  capitalists,  with- 
out the  danger  of  being  cheated  out  of  the  fruits  of  the  in- 
vestment after  the  risk  has  been  incurred  and  success  as- 
sured. Any  good  mill  in  Montana  that  does  not  pay 
wants  a  change  of  management.  Money  may  be  wasted 
in  pursuing  wild-cat  mines,  such  as  are  hawked  about  in 
the  Eastern  cities  by  speculators ;  but  no  mill-owners  here 
should  follow  dubious  leads  to  disaster,  when  there  is  an 
abundance  of  good  ore  offering  to  mill-men.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  judiciously  devoted 


HOW  G01,D-MINES  ARE   DISCOVERED.          319 

to  the  opening  of  mines  in  Montana  this  season  would 
justify  the  erection  of  one  thousand  first-class  mills  next 
season.  There  have  been  more  valuable  leads  discovered 
in  the  Territory,  so  far,  this  year,  than  in  any  previous 
season,  and  the  gulches  clearly  demonstrate  that  very 
many  are  yet  undiscovered,  while  there  are,  doubtless, 
thousands  of  leads,  of  various  richness,  in  the  mountains, 
which  have  never  given  washings  to  the  gulches.  These 
will  be  found  as  others  are  developed. 

Few  persons  in  the  East  have  any  just  conceptions  of 
the  manner  in  which  gold-leads  are  discovered.  They 
hear  only  of  the  discovery  of  valuable  mines,  but  no  one 
records  the  innumerable  failures.  For  every  one  who  is 
successful,  fifty  or  more  are  unsuccessful.  The  placer 
"prospecter"  is  the  pioneer  in  the  development  of  the 
precious  metals.  If  low  in  purse,  he  traverses  the  mount- 
ains on  foot;  but,  if  able  to  own  an  animal,  he  has  a 
"broncho"  (native  or  California  pony),  mule,  or  jack,  on 
which  he  carries  his  " outfit,"  consisting  of  "grub,"  pan, 
spade,  pick,  blanket,  and  revolver ;  and  he  will  thus  travel 
hundreds  of  miles  in  search  of  "new  diggings."  He  ob- 
serves the  mountain-cliffs  which  give  any  indication  of 
gold.  In  the  neighborhood  of  most,  or  perhaps  all,  leads, 
may  be  found  "  croppings"  of  quartz,  which  are  readily 
recognized  by  the  experienced  prospecter.  Guided  by  these, 
he  will  seek  the  gulch  or  ravine  into  which  flow  the  wash- 
ings from  the  hills.  The  elements  decay  the  hardest 
quartz,  separate  the  gold,  and  wash  it  down  into  the 
gulches,  where  it  naturally  gravitates,  by  reason  of  its 
greater  weight,  to  the  bottom  or  "bed-rock."  Wherever 
gold  exists  on  the  surface  of  the  mountain-cliifs,  it  has  been 
washing  down  for  untold  centuries,  and  its  richest  deposit 
is  in  the  bottom  of  the  gulch.  If  the  surface  of  a  gulch 
shows  a  fair  "color,"  it  is  always  safe  to  count  on  an  in- 


320  THE  PROSPECTER. 

crease  of  gold  in  going  down  through  the  earth  to  the  rock. 
The  prospecter  tries  the  earth  by  digging  at  various  points, 
placing  the  dirt  in  his  pan,  and  then  carefully  washing  it 
out  until  the  free  gold  and  particles  of  rich  iron  with  gold 
in  them  only  remain.  These  gradually  separate  from  the 
earth  as  the  pan  is  carefully  handled  and  sluiced  out,  and 
settle  in  the  bottom,  and  the  prospecter  judges,  by  the 
"color"  he  obtains,  of  the  value  of  the  gulch.  The  gold 
will  show  in  various  shapes.  Sometimes  it  is  in  coarse 
nuggets  as  large  as  flaxseed,  and  at  other  times  it  is  in 
very  fine  particles  or  in  thin  flakes.  If  the  digging  shows 
"pay-dirt,"  he  stakes  his  claim  in  accordance  with  the 
mining-laws  of  the  Territory  or  district,  secures  the  water- 
privilege  in  the  same  manner,  and  sends  for  his  most 
trusted  friends  to  take  claims  with  him,  so  as  to  have  the 
whole  gulch,  as  far  as  possible,  under  harmonious  control. 
One  man  can  take  up  only  two  hundred  feet,  and  by  stak- 
ing and  recording  it  his  title  is  perfect  until  forfeited  by 
palpable  abandonment,  which  the  laws  clearly  define. 
Hasty  flumes  and  ditches  are  then  constructed,  the  gulch 
is  dug  over  as  far  as  it  will  pay,  and  perhaps  half  the  gold 
is  saved  by  the  rude  process.  If  eight  or  ten  dollars  can 
be  taken  out  per  day  to  the  hand,  it  is  considered  worth 
working.  If  less  than  that  sum  is  realized,  it  is  usually 
not  considered  good  pay,  and  the  restless  pioneer  fits  up 
and  starts  off  again  to  find  more  prolific  fields  of  wealth, 
while  the  seedy  and  unfortunate  take  his  place  and  make 
a  precarious  living  by  working  what  he  has  abandoned. 
His  love  of  adventure  is  usually  even  stronger  than  his 
love  of  gold,  and  he  is  easily  tempted  from  fair  diggings 
to  search  for  better,  and  from  better,  if  ever  found,  he  is 
again  tempted  to  search  for  the  realization  of  fabled  wealth. 
Now  and  then  he  becomes  reduced  to  the  verge  of  beggary ; 
but  beggars  are  unknown  in  the  mining-regions,  and  he 


HTS  RECKLESSNESS   OF  LIFE.  321 

yields  to  stern  necessity,  and  seeks  legitimate  employment 
as  a  laborer  or  miner  for  a  season.  No  sooner  does  he  re- 
cuperate his  ever-varying  fortunes  than  he  starts  again 
upon  his  favorite  prospecting  path.  Often  his  trips  are 
taken  in  winter,  when  gold  is  believed  to  be  in  some  par- 
ticular locality,  and  he  sleeps  in  the  snow,  and  suffers  ex- 
posure that  would  kill  a  dozen  Eastern  men.  An  Indian 
romance  about  gold-deposits,  or  any  vague  rumor,  no 
matter  whence  it  comes,  is  enough  to  start  the  prospecter 
any  distance,  regardless  of  weather.  There  is  hardly  a 
gulch  or  ravine  in  the  Territories  of  Idaho  or  Montana,  ex- 
cepting where  the  Indians  reside,  that  has  not  been  pros- 
pected more  or  less  by  these  sturdy  adventurers  ;  and  scores 
of  lives  have  been  given  to  Indian  savagery  in  efforts  to. 
find  the  wealth  of  the  Yellowstone.  Even  the  scalping- 
knife  does  not  deter  the  prospecter,  and  each  year  furnishes 
new  victims  to  the  ambition  to  find  the  supposed  rich  de- 
posits of  Eastern  Montana,  where  the  Indians  relentlessly 
dispute  the  advance  of  the  pale-faces.  Thus  have  these 
pioneers  prospected  the  whole  mountain-regions ;  and,  while 
the  many  millions  of  gold  produced  annually  in  Montana 
is  the  fruit  of  their  work,  there  is  not  one  in  fifty  of  them 
who  could  pay  his  way  back  to  the  States  to-day.  Most 
of  them  have,  at  one  time  or  another,  been  well  off,  or  had 
a  fortune  within  their  grasp ;  but  they  waste  as  fast  as 
they  gather,  and  abandon  good  claims  to  gratify  the  ruling 
passion  to  discover  better  ones. 

When  rich  placer-diggings  are  found,  it  is  cigar  that 
good  quartz-leads  must  be  in  the  vicinity  on  the  hills;  and 
if  two  or  more  different  kinds  of  gulch-gold  are  found, 
they  indicate  as  many  different  sources  or  leads.  To  find 
them  is  often  a  task  of  no  common  magnitude,  and  some- 
times the  effort  is  entirely  fruitless.  All  the  hills  near  to 
pay-gulches  are  dotted  over  with  the  mark  of  the  indefati- 

28* 


322  REVERSES   OF  THE  PROSPECTER. 

gable  prospecter.  The  gulches  are  often  miles  in  length, 
and  the  character  and  quantity  of  gold  found  up  to  any 
one  point  in  the  gulch  indicate  whether  any  or  all  the 
leads  are  still  higher  up  in  the  mountains.  If  a  particular 
quality  of  gulch-gold  is  found  only  to  a  particular  point, 
the  lead  or  leads  from  which  it  comes  must  be  in  that 
locality ;  and  thus  the  yield  of  the  gulches  indicates  with 
some  certainty  the  cliff  on  which  the  lead  lies.  The  lead, 
however,  is  but  a  narrow  strip,  usually  from  two  to  four 
feet  wide,  and  months  are  often  spent  by  dozens  of  pros- 
pecters  in  unsuccessful  efforts  to  find  it.  Every  few  rods 
on  such  hills  show  a  hole  dug  out  from  three  to  ten  feet 
deep.  In  order  to  gain  title  to  the  lead,  it  must  be  clearly 
ascertained,  the  wall-rock  found,  and  a  specimen  of  the 
genuine  quartz  deposited  with  the  Recorder,  to  guard 
against  fraud.  The  place  where  the  lead  is  found  is  called 
the  "  discovery,"  and  the  person  who  found  it  is  entitled 
to  the  discovery  claim,  exclusive  of  his  right  to  enter  a 
claim  upon  the  mine.  He  stakes  the  discovery,  placards 
it,  stating  name  and  date  of  discovery,  and  selects  his 
friends  to  locate  claims  adjoining  his.  Sometimes  he  is 
paid  for  the  privilege  of  taking  claims  with  him ;  but  he  is 
eminently  kind  and  generous  to  his  associates,  and  they 
are  usually  allowed  to  enter  claims  without  charge.  In 
nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty  the  operations  of  the  discov- 
erer and  prospecter  cease  with  the  discovery,  staking,  and 
recording  of  the  claims.  Instead  of  developing  what  they 
possess^  they  will  start  out  again  in  search  of  new  dis- 
coveries. They  have  no  capital  for  the  proper  de- 
velopment of  their  mines  and  the  erection  of  mills ;  and, 
if  they  had,  they  would  in  most  cases  spend  it  in  pursuit 
of  the  ignis-fatuus  that  is  ever  luring  them  to  imaginary 
fields  of  wealth.  In  time,  reverses  come.  Hard  winters 
and  high  prices  for  provisions  soon  waste  the  scanty  re- 


RUMORS  OF  NEW  DISCOVERIES.  323 

sources  of  the  prospecter.  The  gulches  are  closed,  and 
grim  want  flings  its  appalling  shadows  over  the  owners 
of  mines  which  may  have  millions  of  slumbering  gold. 
The  speculator  or  "  middle-man"  steps  in,  buys  his  claim 
for  a  song,  and  then  sells  it  to  Eastern  capitalists  at  a  lib- 
eral and  sometimes  fabulous  advance.  After  the  weary, 
pitiless  winter  has  been  braved  out  in  habitual  suffering 
and  privation,  the  prospecter  starts  again,  and  repeats  the 
bitter  experience  of  the  past,  until  broken  health  or  multi- 
plied misfortunes  make  him  work  his  way  back  to  the 
land  of  his  childhood,  or  consign  him  to  an  untimely 
grave  in  the  bleak  mountains. 

We  little  know  how  much  of  fruitless  toil  every  dollar 
of  gold  we  coin  has  cost  the  prospecter.  His  life  is  one 
of  incessant  privation,  sacrifice,  and  labor.  He  dreams  of 
gold,  not  so  much  because  he  loves  it,  as  because  of  his 
controlling  but  ever- deceptive  hopes  of  discovering  richer 
and  still  richer  deposits  of  the  precious  metal.  No  matter 
how  well  his  labor  might  be  requited  by  devoting  it  to 
what  he  already  possessed,  he  ever  dreams  of  still  more 
brilliant  stores  of  wealth.  In  his  estimation,  what  he 
produces  has  no  value  beyond  supplying  his  wants  and 
caprices  and  supporting  him  in  his  delusive  dream.  Swift 
as  the  winds,  even  in  this  sparsely-settled  country,  almost 
without  mails  and  telegraphs,  the  rumor  of  new  discoveries, 
perhaps  hundreds  of  miles  distant,  seems  to  fly  ;  and  in  an 
hour  camps  are  almost  depopulated,  cabins  untenanted, 
flumes  and  ditches  abandoned  to  decay,  and  with  the  sim- 
plest mining- outfit  thrown  over  their  shoulders  the  miners 
stream  off  to  the  new  Eldorado.  Last  winter  the  word 
came,  no  one  hardly  knew  how,  from  Salmon  River,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant  across  the  Rocky  range, 
that  the  great  gold-deposit  of  the  mountains  had  been 
discovered.  None  could  wait  for  confirmation  of  the  news, 


324  THE  SALMON  RIVER  STAMPEDE. 

lest  others  should  distance  them  in  securing  claims.  Clad 
in  snow-shoes,  they  traversed  the  mountains  in  midwinter, 
over  a  route  destitute  of  provisions  and  shelter,  and  nearly 
ten  thousand  hapless  prospecters  were  huddled  in  the 
Salmon  River  region,  where  there  were  not  paying  claims 
for  one  thousand  men.  Fearful  destitution  followed. 
Many  were  frozen  in  their  efforts  to  get  there  or  return ; 
and  now  the  tide  of  gloomy,  penniless  men  is  passing 
back,  glad  to  find  a  day's  labor  at  anything  to  save  them- 
selves from  starvation.  Similar  stampedes  are  made 
every  year,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  they  result  in  dis- 
aster. Thus  does  the  prospecter  ebb  and  flow  from  occa- 
sional rays  of  sunshine  to  the  darkest  of  days.  He  flits 
from  one  delusion  to  another,  ever  tireless  in  his  devotion 
to  his  dream  of  a  success  he  could  not  define  if  asked  for 
the  measure  of  his  ambition.  Disappointment  seems  to 
have  no  power  to  direct  him  in  wiser  paths.  A  few  have, 
in  the  past,  attained  bewildering  success,  but  only  after 
mountains  of  faded  hopes  had  checkered  their  experience ; 
and  the  adventurer  still  dreams  and  perseveres,  and  waits 
but  to  recover  from  the  shock  of  one  defeat  to  invite  an- 
other. His  life  is  spent  in  mingled  disappointment  and 
toil  as  he  marks  the  earth's  great  mines  of  wealth  for 
others  to  develop  and  enjoy.  But  one  affection  at  times 
ventures  to  dispute  the  mastery  of  his  omnipotent  dream. 
I  have  seen  hundreds  of  these  bronzed  and  sturdy  men, 
who  have  encountered  life's  rudest  blasts  with  unflinch- 
ing purpose,  and  each  one's  eyes  brighten,  his  harsh, 
furrowed  lines  soften,  and  his  brave  heart  swells  with 
emotion,  as  he  speaks  of  "going  home."  It  is  the  silver 
lining  to  every  shadow  that  crosses  his  path,  and  the 
crowning  hope  that  nerves  him  in  every  trial.  To  be 
successful  and  return  to  old  friends,  perhaps  to  long- 
separated  but  still  fondly-cherished  household  gods,  is 


THE    FROSrECTEPS'    HUMBLE   GRAVES.          325 

the  dream  whose  brightness  gilds  even  the  dream  of  gold. 
But  few,  however,  realize  even  a  tithe  of  their  hopes ; 
and  many,  very  many,  after  bright  promises  have  faded 
in  continued  succession,  bow  to  the  inevitable  doom  of 
mortals,  and  ridge  the  mountain-slopes  with  their  monu- 
mentless  tombs.  No  class  of  men  have  done  so  much  to 
swell  the  nation's  wealth,  and  none  have  been  so  poorly 
requited.  I  never  pass  their  humble  graves  without  feel- 
ing that  I  could  there  drop  a  tear  in  sympathy  with  the 
thousands  who  serve  the  world  so  much,. — .and  themselves 
so  little  ;  and,  when  exhausted  nature  surrenders  the  un- 
equal contest,  the  hand  of  the  stranger  must  soothe  their 
fevered  brains,  and  perform  for  them  the  last  mournful 
offices  of  earth. 


LETTER    XXX Y. 

The  Melancholy  Days. — The  Tide  of  Progress.  —  The  Living 
Reign  on  the  Oregon. — "Old  Baldy." — His  Advent  and  His- 
tory.— His  Relics  from  his  Companionship  in  the  Deep. — His 
Kind  Admonition  of  the  Coming  of  the  Storm-King. — He 
changes  not  with  the  Advance  of  Civilization. — "  Lo"  and  his 
Bride. — The  Fate  of  the  Red  Man. — How  he  became  peace- 
able.— Another  Visitor. — The  Mountain-Rat.  —  His  Original 
Social  Qualities.— The  Reign  of  the  Storm-King. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  September  18,  1867. 
ABOUT  this  time  you  would  probably  expect  me  to  write 
that  "  the  melancholy  days  have  come,  the  saddest  of  the 
year;"  but  we  have  no  melancholy  seasons  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  such  as  inspired  the  pen  of  Bryant  by  the  sober 
tints  of  their  autumnal  robes.  ''The  century-living  crow," 
to  which  he  tuned  his  lyre  nearly  threescore  years  ago, 
still  greets  the  settler  on  the  plains  and  turns  his  fledglings 
from  the  scraggy  mountain-pines;  but  the  Oregon  has 
ceased  to  roll  on  in  solitude,  "  hearing  no  sound  save  his 
own  dashings."  The  dead  no  longer  "reign  there  alone." 
The  belching  steamer  splashes  the  waters  and  divides  the 
waves  of  the  Oregon, — which  has  outgrown  its  poetic 
title, — as  the  tide  of  commerce  and  travel  steams  upward 
toward  the  mountain-tops ;  and  the  living  now  reign  in 
the  midst  of  beauty  and  plenty  where  the  Pale  Horseman 
wielded  his  weird  sceptre  in  the  solitude  of  the  silent 
sleepers  of  other  ages.  The  mountains  wear  no  garb  but 
their  favorite  green  ;  and  even  in  the  midst  of  Old  Winter's 
(326) 


"OLD  BALDY."  32Y 

fiercest  scowls  and  angriest  storms  they  change  not.  The 
quaking  asp  withers  before  the  early  frosts ;  but  it  decks 
its  funeral  couch  with  no  gaudy  hues.  It  wears  the  solemn 
seal  of  death,  and  in  pensive  loneliness  awaits  the  coming 
of  another  spring.  Autumn,  so  full  of  mellowest  beauties 
in  the  East,  has  no  place  in  the  fitful  seasons  of  the  Far 
West.  The  wild  flowers  which  repay  the  brief  summer 
suns  with  nature's  loveliest  offering,  fade  and  die  before 
winter  skirmishes  with  the  mountain-peaks,  and  the  few 
which  remain  will  thrust  out  their  tinted  blossoms  from 
their  snowy  beds. 

"  Old  Baldy"*  is  my  near  neighbor.  He  is  respected 
here  as  youth  respects  the  venerable  in  all  civilized  com- 
munities. How  long  he  has  had  his  habitation  where  he 
now  rests  in  conscious  dignity,  I  know  not.  The  time 
was,  perhaps  ere  mortal's  griefs  began,  when  he  slept  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  the  swimming  tribes,  from  the 
leviathan  to  the  modest  crinotd,  climbed  his  rugged  sides 
and  sported  in  his  pockets.  How  he  came  to  change 
his  sphere  the  learned  can  only  guess,  while  he  remains 
silent.  It  may  be  that  gradually  the  waters  were  called 
to  the  Eastern  ocean,  and  he  rose  from  his  uneasy  bed  as 
centuries  rolled  back  into  the  eternal  past;  or  perchance 
the  angry  earthquake  flung  him  up  toward  the  heavens 
and  bade  him  stay  to  chill  the  summer  breezes  as  they  kiss 
his  bronzed  cheek  in  their  onward  flight.  However  he 
came,  he  was  not  alone.  In  his  huge  arms  he  brought 
with  him  his  old  associates.  The  plant  of  the  ocean  still 
slumbers  in  his  watchful  keeping,  perfect  in  all  its  fibres 
and  leafy  beauty;  although  he  has  chilled  it  into  stone 
hard  as  his  rocky  coat  of  mail.  The  shell-fish  came  with 
him,  hid  in  his  curves  and  recesses,  and  found  a  tomb 

*  Bald  Mountain,  the  highest  peak  near  Union  City. 


828          GRANDEUR   OF  THE  MOUNTAIN  KING. 

where  life  only  decays,  while  its  frail  tenement  remains 
and  defies  the  elements  of  destruction.  The  monsters  of 
the  deep  floundered  about  him  as  he  rose,  gave  up  life  as 
the  waters  receded  from  his  precipitous  sides;  and  now 
they  nestle  in  his  petrified  mosses  to  teach  mankind  the 
story  of  the  past.  Whatever  his  history,  whether  noble 
or  ignoble,  there  he  stands,  crowned  in  his  matchless  ma- 
jesty, " grand,  gloomy,  and  peculiar,"  as  he  holds  his  court 
nine  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The  tourists  are  made 
welcome  to  his  homely  hospitality.  They  can  traverse 
his  topmost  peaks,  climb  around  his  dusky  breast,  make 
merry  on  his  uneven  sides,  and  gather  the  little  wild 
flowers  he  shelters  in  his  chasms  and  waters  with  his 
snows.  He  marks  the  seasons  as  they  come  and  go,  and 
gives  early  admonition  to  all  the  living  who  seek  safety 
from  man  in  his  fastnesses,  of  the  advent  of  winter.  On 
Friday  last  he  came  out  in  his  frosty  robes,  and  gradually 
he  flung  the  snow  down  the  mountain-steeps,  until  he  clad 
all  the  cliffs  and  foot-hills  in  his  favorite  attire.  The  sun 
will  follow  and  restore  them  to  increased  freshness ;  but  the 
Mountain-King  will  defy  the  enfeebled  rays,  and  wear  his 
crown  of  white  until  the  stubborn  struggle  with  another 
summer  comes.  The  few  pines  which  whisker  his  face 
are  safe  from  the  stroke  of  the  woodman ;  no  fertile  soils 
are  allowed  on  his  undulating  plains  and  narrow  benches  ; 
the  precious  metals  over  which  he  has  stood  sentinel  for 
untold  decades  are  the  gifts  of  the  satellites  which  sur- 
round his  throne,  and  he  stands  to-day  as  he  has  stood  in 
the  voiceless  and  unrecorded  past,  and  as  he  will  stand  for 
centuries  to  come,  in  his  native,  unbroken  solitude.  Civili- 
zation may  sweep  through  the  surrounding  valleys  with 
its  beneficent  trains ;  the  iron  horse  may  make  the  mount- 
ains resound  with  his  piercing  screams ;  commerce  may 
whirl  along  from  sea  to  sea ;  golden  harvests  may  wave 


«£6>"    AND   HIS  BRIDE.  329 

from  the  Yellowstone  to  Missoula,  from  the  Madison  to 
Benton ;  churches  may  point  their  spires  to  heaven,  and 
schools  may  dot  the  plains  to  ennoble  our  coming  men; 
but  until  time  shall  be  no  more,  and  his  towering  cliffs, 
ever  defiant  of  man,  shall  dissolve  with  fervent  heat,  he 
will  maintain  his  proud,  imperial  grandeur. 

A  few  days  ago  he  blew  his  cold  breath  upon  the  son  of 
the  forest,  and  "Lo"  and  his  dusky  bride  visited  me.  The 
lord  of  the  wilderness  came  from  his  summer  of  idleness, 
or  worse,  to  beg  for  bread,  while  his  menial  partner  led 
the  pack-pony,  and  packed  herself  what  the  pony  could 
not  bear.  He  shook  his  head  mournfully  as  the  shrill 
song  of  the  steam-whistle  called  the  pale-faces  to  their 
daily  toil ;  for  it  told  the  story  of  a  new  supremacy.  "  Buf- 
falo, moose,  elk,  deer,  antelope,  sheep — all  gone — all  gone! 
Injin  starve  !"  was  his  sorrowful  ejaculation.  "White  man 
everywhere — everywhere  !  Injin  must  die  !"  he  added,  as 
he  looked  out  over  the  expansive  valleys  two  thousand 
feet  below  us,  and  saw  them  spangled  with  cities  and 
farms.  He  was  one  of  the  few  remaining  noble  specimens 
of  his  race, — tall,  proud  in  his  bearing,  straight  as  his 
unerring  arrows,  his  blanket  gathered  gracefully  about 
him,  waving  feathers  in  his  hair  declaring  the  honors  he 
had  won  in  his  tribe.  His  well-worn  Kentucky  rifle  lay 
carelessly  across  his  arm,  and  he  stood  for  some  moments 
in  painful  reflection  as  he  seemed  to  comprehend  the  sad 
destiny  of  himself  and  his  brethren.  "  White  man  at  war, 
— Injin  must  die, — must  die!"  was  his  parting  expression, 
as  he  walked  off,  in  broken  pride,  toward  the  capital,  to 
share  the  bounty  of  the  Great  Father.  While  her  lord 
was  thus  tarrying  to  contemplate  the  inexorable  laws  of 
progress  and  mourn  over  the  fast-receding  sun  of  their 
existence,  the  tender  helpmate  ransacked  the  rubbish  about 
the  cabins  for  worthless  rags ;  and,  guiltless  of  sentiment 

29 


330  THE  MOUNTAIN-RAT. 

and  indifferent  to  fate,  she  plodded  on  in  her  favorite  pur- 
suit. They  were  Bannacks,  and  friendly,  civilized  by 
General  Conner,  who  taught  them  the  path  of  peace  as 
his  batteries  and  battalions  swept  half  their  warriors  to 
the  grave. 

Another  visitor  has  come  in  obedience  to  the  warnings 
of  the  Mountain-King.  The  migratory  mountain-rat,  who 
rivals  the  Norway  in  his  majesty,  and  is  the  most  mis- 
chievous of  his  tribe,  has  fled  from  "  Old  Baldy's"  chilling 
frowns,  and  taken  up  his  abode  with  me.  He  has  pros- 
pected the  cabin  from  cellar  to  dome,  opened  his  thor- 
oughfares in  the  walls,  and  has  his  loop-holes  to  command 
every  room  for  retreat  or  offensive  movements.  The  mer- 
chant-prince of  Union  City  retails  fruits,  groceries,  tobacco, 
etc.  in  the  basement;  and  the  new  visitors  have  entered 
into  a  compulsory  partnership  with  him.  One  night  they 
will  cut  a  sack  of  peaches,  soften  their  nests  with  the  flax, 
and  hide  the  fruit  in  their  innumerable  store-houses  in  the 
wall.  Another  night  they  turn  oculists,  and  deposit  the 
venerable  merchant's  spectacles  in  a  corner  nest ;  and  once 
they  turned  bankers,  robbed  the  cash-box  of  the  proceeds 
of  a  day's  commerce  ($6.40),  and  displayed  the  perfection 
of  art  in  the  reduction  of  bank-note  and  fractional-cur- 
rency paper  to  the  softest  lining  for  their  habitations.  Not 
content  with  taking  cash,  spectacles,  and  fruits,  they  have 
confiscated  half  the  matron's  wool  designed  for  quilts; 
and  a  troop  of  them  would  have  taken  off  bodily  a  woolen 
spread,  but  for  the  fact  that  they  could  not  drag  it  through 
a  hole  smaller  than  itself.  If  "  Old  Baldy"  had  shipped 
me  an  army  of  cats  with  his  summer  friends,  I  would  have 
felt  grateful ;  but,  as  he  has  failed  to  do  so,  I  am  now  re- 
cruiting the  feline  ranks.  "  Fanny,"  a  tan  terrier  recently 
added  to  the  family-circle,  proffered  friendship  to  his  nit- 
ship  on  first  meeting;  but,  as  the  friendly  offer  was  de- 


REIGN  OF  THE  STORM-KINO.  331 

clined  in  a  belligerent  spirit,  she  retired  under  the  bed- 
clothes to  reflect  upon  the  future  conduct  of  the  war. 
Since  then  she  has  been  practicing  by  a  score  of  attempts 
to  drive  a  sociable  pig  from  the  door ;  but  his  majesty  of 
the  kinky  tail  will  lie  down,  yawn,  and  deliberately  snooze 
in  the  midst  of  the  attack,  occasionally  grunting  a  wish 
for  undisturbed  repose. 

So  winter  encompasses  Union  City  in  the  middle  of  the 
first  month  of  autumn.  The  six  inches  of  snow  about  us 
are  the  prelude  to  the  coming  mountains  of  drift,  and  the 
hoarse  winds  which  play  their  fretful  melodies  through 
the  pines  are  but  the  advance  of  the  grand  army  of  the 
Storm-King  who  is  about  to  found  his  frosty  empire  in  our 
midst.  For  two  months  the  struggle  will  be  constant 
between  sunshine  and  storm.  Indian  summer  will  come 
to  the  relief  of  the  God  of  Day  for  a  brief  season ;  but  the 
contest  will  grow  more  and  more  unequal  with  each  short- 
ening day;  and  when  merry  Christmas  and  jolly  New- 
Year  come,  the  highways  hence  will  be  trackless,  the  sun 
will  only  peep  over  the  mountain-tops  to  tell  us  noon  has 
come,  and  then  slide  down  the  whitened  slopes,  as  the  cur- 
tain of  night  spreads  the  shadows  over  the  glittering  icicles 
of  the  rocky  domes. 


LETTER    XXXVI. 

A  Western  Court. — The  Court-Room. — Limited  Powers  of  the 
Judge. — Freedom  of  the  Lawyers. — Chief-Justice  Hosmer. — 
A  Specimen  Case. — The  same  Point  decided  Five  Times,  after  as 
many  Legal  Wrangles. — Disregard  of  Judicial  Decrees. — Sleep- 
ing with  a  Professor. — Interesting  Researches  into  the  Past. — 
Imaginary  Wanderings  over  Montana  Millions  of  Years  ago. 
— Con  Orem  and  his  Prize-Fight. — Invited  to  be  a  Referee. — 
A  Reminiscence  of  the  Rebellion. — General  Fitz-John  Porter. 
— Mrs.  Swisshelm  and  General  Grant. — He  will  be  next  Presi- 
dent, if  living. — Future  Visits  to  Montana. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  September  30,  1867. 
I  HAVE  recently  given  four  days'  attendance  to  our 
Western  court,  where  justice  is  judicially  administered 
with  variations  of  which  Blackstone  never  dreamed  in  his 
philosophy.  The  court-room  is  the  loft  of  a  store,  and  is 
devoted  promiscuously  to  justice,  dances,  sermons,  itiner- 
ant shows,  and  other  useful  and  ornamental  institutions. 
It  has  convenient  side-doors,  opening  directly  into  billiards, 
cock-tails,  and  short  cards.  A  long  carpet-covered  sofa, 
elevated  on  four  blocks,  accommodates  the  chief-justice 
who  holds  the  district  courts  here,  and  he  can  assume  the 
horizontal  or  perpendicular  attitude  during  the  tedious 
speeches  of  the  lawyers  without  encroaching  upon  the  dig- 
nity of  his  great  office.  Under  the  laws  he  has  little  power 
over  juries,  since  he  does  not  charge  them,  as  is  the  custom 
in  Pennsylvania.  Points  may  be  submitted  to  him,  asking 
particular  instructions  on  the  law,  and  he  answers  the  re- 
quests as  he  affirms  or  negatives  them.  Here  his  power 
(332) 


t 
CHIEF-JUSTICE  HOSMEK.  333 

over  the  trial  of  a  case  ends.  Of  the  facts  the  jurors  are 
the  sole  judges,  without  judicial  explanation  or  any  sug- 
gestions whatever  from  the  court,  and  cases  go  hap-hazard 
to  the  juries,  and  are  kicked  from  post  to  pillar  by  windy 
advocates.  Chief- Justice  Hosmer  seems  to  have  started 
wrong  in  the  outset, — like  a  timid  driver  failing  to  wield 
the  reins  with  vim  in  his  first  drive  of  a  vicious  team; 
and  the  team  has  measurably  driven  the  driver  ever  since. 
Stern  in  his  integrity,  and  well  versed  in  the  law,  he  does 
his  part  creditably  in  all  things,  save  in  exercising  with  a 
firm  purpose  the  high  prerogatives  of  a  court  of  justice. 
Half  a  dozen  lawyers  will  speak  at  once,  wrangling  over 
silly  technicalities,  hurl  disgraceful  personalities  at  each 
other,  play  at  stupid  badinage  to  bring  down  the  house, 
and  talk  almost  endlessly,  with  boundless  latitude,  in  advo- 
cating causes  before  juries.  The  judge  tolerates  it  com- 
placently, and  usually  lets  the  show  go  on  in  its  own  way, 
unless  they  undertake,  as  they  do  once  in  awhile,  to  ex- 
plain away  the  court  itself,  when  he  bristles  up,  clears  the 
board,  and  lets  them  take  a  fresh  start.  One  case,  in  which 
I  was  incidentally  interested,  required  four  days  of  skir- 
mishing, every  morning  and  noon,  to  get  all  parties  to 
understand  what  disposition  was  to  be  made  of  it.  It  was 
an  action  of  ejectment.  The  court  decided  that  the  record- 
title  was  the  best  evidence  in  the  case,  and  must  govern 
it,  —  a  principle  that  would  not  have  required  a  written 
opinion  to  establish  it  in  most  places,  as  it  seems  to  require 
here.  The  record  evidence  being  against  the  plaintiff,  he 
found  himself  without  any  evidence  at  all.  Some  question 
— I  could  not  understand  what  it  was — engaged  several 
lawyers  on  each  side  in  a  protracted  discussion,  to  which 
the  court  listened,  sometimes  serenely  and  sometimes  rest- 
lessly. The  jury  was  sworn,  the  plaintiff  had  no  fcridence 
to  present,  and,  instead  of  ending  it,  a  free  fight  followed 

29* 


334         PROCEEDINGS  IN  A   MONTANA    COURT. 

as  to  the  status  of  the  respective  parties  in  the  case,  and 
the  effect  of  the  ruling  of  the  court.  Finally  all  got  con- 
fused, and  the  case  was  postponed  until  the  next  morning. 
Then  the  plaintiff  took  a  non-suit,  whereupon  the  defend- 
ant's counsel  asked  judgment,  and  another  row  followed, 
between  six  lawyers,  never  less  than  two  speaking  at  a 
time ;  and,  finally,  another  postponement  until  noon  re- 
stored peace.  Next  the  plaintiff  moved  to  take  off  the 
non-suit  for  error  in  the  ruling  of  the  court,  and  another 
free  fight  followed,  until  confusion  reigned  again,  and  the 
decision  was  postponed.  When  it  next  came  up,  a  writ- 
ten opinion  was  delivered,  refusing  to  take  off  the  non- 
suit. Then  followed  exceptions  in  detail,  and  a  motion  to 
dissolve  the  injunction  restraining  the  defendant  from  pos- 
session brought  on  another  spirited  war  of  words,  and  con- 
fused the  case  into  another  postponement.  Finally  the  end 
was  reached ;  the  injunction — which  of  necessity  fell  when 
the  plaintiff  was  ruled  out  of  court — was  dissolved ;  and 
so  the  case  goes  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  review.  The 
case  was  absolutely  disposed  of  the  first  hour  it  was  on 
trial,  and  so  it  would  have  ended  in  any  Eastern  court; 
but  the  judge  was  compelled  to  decide  the  same  question 
practically  not  less  than  four  times,  after  as  many  fierce 
discussions,  before  he  could  reach  the  logical,  inevitable 
results  of  his  first  ruling,  which  was  conclusive  of  the 
case.  It  must  not  be  inferred  that,  because  lawyers  thus 
conduct  cases  in  a  manner  that  would  destroy  any  good 
cause  in  an  Eastern  court,  they  are  wanting  in  ability.  As 
a  rule,  the  bar  of  Montana  county-seats  is  as  able  as  the 
average  of  Eastern  bars ;  but  the  latitude  allowed  in  all 
Western  courts,  and  the  circumscribed  power  of  the  judges, 
seem  to  make  it  the  duty  of  lawyers  to  fight  a  case  in 
every  shape,  and  at  every  step,  until  fight  is  no  longer  pos- 
sible. Speeches  are  not  limited,  nor  are  they  held  either 


ROOMING    WITH  A   PROFESSOR.  335 

to  the  law  or  the  evidence ;  and  there  is  always  a  chance 
for  the  worst  of  cases  by  confusing  a  portion  of  the  jury. 
If  I  had  been  judge  the  four  days  I  attended  court,  I  am 
sure  that  half  the  bar  would  have  been  in  jail  the  first  day, 
and  probably  the  residue  would  have  been  stricken  from 
the  roll  before  I  had  got  through.  The  business  of  the 
term  could  then  have  been  finished  up,  with  justice  to  all, 
in  about  three  days ;  while,  as  things  are,  it  will  require  a 
month  or  more  of  court,  and  half  the  cases  will  go  over. 
A  few  weeks  ago,  when  visiting  different  portions  of  the 
Territory,  I  saw  a  man,  armed  with  his  rifle,  guarding  his 
claims  against  the  sheriff,  who  had  been  ordered  by  the 
court  to  have  a  survey  made.  In  company  with  me  was 
the  judge  from  whose  court  the  order  had  issued,  and  he 
seemed  to  regard  it  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  most 
flagrant  contempt  of  the  authority  of  the  law.  This  was 
in  Judge  Munson's  jurisdiction.  They  do  not  play  such 
pranks  on  Judge  Williston,  who  learned  the  duties  and 
prerogatives  of  courts  from  his  father, — one  of  Pennsyl- 
vania's best  judges  in  the  best  days  of  her  legal  tribunals. 
I  have  found  the  same  loose  system  of  the  administration 
of  justice  prevailing  in  Colorado,  Utah,  and  Idaho. 

While  attending  court,  the  crowded  condition  of  the 
principal  hotel  in  the  city  denied  me  a  room  to  myself,  and 
a  good-hearted  Professor*  took  me  in  and  divided  his  nar- 
row bed  with  me.  We  have  both  been  delving  in  mines  and 
studying  the  subjugation  of  the  varied  ores  of  Montana, — 
he  from  the  stand-point  of  science,  and  I  from  the  miners' 
well-earned  practical  knowledge.  That  we  should  talk 
was  natural ;  for  everybody  talked  around  us.  The  thin 
board  partitions  which  divided  our  little  room  from  those 
adjoining  might  have  made  us  master  of  many  a  forbidden 

*  Professor  Eaton,  of  New  York. 


336     INTERESTING   RESEARCHES  INTO    THE  PAST. 

family  topic ;  but  we  were  both  past  romance, — he  bald, 
and  I  well  frosted, — and  we  plunged  into  science  from  min- 
gled motives  of  politeness  and  interest.  I  could  not  un- 
fold the  walks  and  chases  we  had,  in  imagination,  through 
formations  now  belonging  only  to  the  past,  and  after 
strange  animals,  wingless  birds,  and  fantastic  insects,  whose 
history  is  written  only  in  the  mysterious  depths  of  the 
earth ;  how  we  waded  through  the  half-chilled  fluidity  of 
a  million  years  ago,  dug  down  into  the  Silurian  and  De- 
vonian periods,  gazed  in  wonder  at  the  footprints  of  the 
Permian,  and  came  up,  through  the  scaleless  fishes  and 
curious  mammalia  of  the  Tertiary,  to  the  advent  of  our 
race ;  how  we  chased  the  mammoth  of  Montana  over  plains 
now  flung  up  into  shapeless  cliffs,  and  climbed  the  barren, 
scraggy  rocks  whose  once  green  surface  fed  the  monsters 
of  forgotten  ages ;  how  we  sailed  on  fathomless  seas 
where  now  are  blooming  fields  and  swarming  cities,  and 
took  in  the  sportive  finny  tribes  where  now  we  ascend 
miles  above  the  receding  ocean  to  look  on  nature's  shift- 
ing panorama  and  bewildering  transformations ;  how  we 
peeped  into  the  ceaseless  but  unconsuming  fires,  ever  kiss- 
ing the  earth  beneath  us,  followed  the  seams  of  precious 
metals  they  have  thrown  to  the  surface,  and  strained  the 
favorite  science  of  the  day  to  explain  the  laws  by  which 
these  hidden  treasures  are  governed ;  how  we  paused 
to  admire  the  few  of  living  genera  of  animals  which 
have  survived  through  all  the  world's  changes,  make 
one  bow  of  reverence  to  that  single  venerable  family,  and 
then  move  on  to  mourn  the  thousands  that  have  passed 
away ;  how  we  blessed  the  flowers  which  beautify  the 
earth,  for  numbering  among  their  living  a  preponderance 
over  their  dead,  and  rejoiced  that  the  birds  of  song  have 
braved  the  ebbs  and  flows  of  the  world's  waters  and  its 
perpetual  changes  and  have  but  few  of  their  number  as 


CO N.   OREM  AND    IHS   PRTZR   FIGHT.  337 

only  of  the  past;  and  then,  when  weary  of  the  romance 
of  by-gone  years,  how  we  traveled  on  to  that  other  great 
period,  of  which  we  read  with  tremulous  voice,  "  when 
time  shall  be  no  more,"  and  called  up  the  dead  of  these 
mountain-slopes,  ghastly  statues  of  stone, — petrified  by 
nature's  great  mineral  fountains  as  perfectly  as  the  sculp- 
tor's chisel  could  mould  their  forms  from  the  seamless  gran- 
ite,— and  gave  them  over  to  Him  who  alone  can  execute 
His  immutable  laws.  To  my  companion  it  was  an  even- 
ing of  grateful  repose ;  to  me,  one  of  boundless  interest;  and 
thus  we  wandered  until  I  gave  way  to  the  demands  of 
weary  nature,  to  be  startled  out  of  fitful  dozes  by  the  sav- 
age whirl  of  some  leviathan  of  the  deep,  or  the  ferocious 
assault  of  some  mammoth  we  had  brought  to  bay.  But, 
when  awakened,  the  hoarse  voice  of  the  infuriated  monster 
mellowed  down  into  the  gentle  tones  of  my  unflagging 
Professor.  At  last  he  sprang  to  the  floor  and  seized  his 
glass.  "  The  moon  is  here :  it  is  said  that  one  of  her  cra- 
ters has  fallen  in.  Let — me — see."  And  with  his  glass  care- 
fully adjusted,  bearing  upon  the  Queen  of  Night,  I  left  him 
for  the  land  of  dreams. 

The  delay  of  the  courts  consigned  me  to  idleness,  and  I 
strolled  through  the  city  from  corner  to  corner  and  crowd 
to  crowd  to  hasten  the  sluggish  hours.  Passing  a  well- 
known  saloon,  a  close-cropped  head,  pleasant  face,  and 
muscular  frame  confronted  me.  A  hand  as  black  as  jet, 
from  the  application  of  chemicals,  was  thrown  most  famil- 
iarly on  my  shoulder,  and  I  was  thus  addressed  :  "  Colonel, 
I'm  goin'  to  lam  Jim  Dwyer  on  the  25th  of  October, — goin' 
to  be  a  gentlemanly  mill, — the  most  respectable  bruise  ever 
we've  had  in  the  Territory;  and  I  want  you  and  Governor 
Smith  to  be  referees  or  judges.  What  d'ye  say?"  From 
the  statement  made,  I  knew  for  the  first  time  that  my 
familiar  friend  :vas  Con.  Orem,  a  hero  of  the  prize-ring, 


338        A    REMINISCENCE   OF  THE  REBELLION. 

who  is  now  in  training  for  his  coming  fight  with  Dwyer. 
To  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  I  had  never  met  him  before, 
but  his  manner  was  so  free  and  sociable  that  I  almost 
wondered  whether  I  had  not  been  his  partner  in  some  of 
his  former  " mills."  His  countenance  sparkled  with  genu- 
ine good-fellowship,  despite  his  brutal  profession;  and,  in 
obedience  to  the  customs  of  the  country,  I  treated  the 
proposition  with  respect.  I  did  not  know  but  that  Con. 
had,  like  myself,  been  in  some  State  legislature,  and  that 
he  could  justly  claim  a  mutual  sympathy  because  of  com- 
mon misfortune  in  reputation.  I  informed  him,  therefore, 
that  I  would  consult  Governor  Smith,  and  we  would 
answer  at  an  early  day.  "  Colonel  Sanders,"  said  he, 
"read  the  rules  of  the  ring  for  me  at  my  last  fight;  and  if 
you  want  to  bet  fifty,  just  go  it  on  me,"  he  added,  with  an 
expressive  wink  meant  to  assure  me  that  the  wager  would 
be  a  safe  one.  We  shook  hands  and  parted,  as  I  declined 
his  proffered  treat  at  the  bar ;  and,  as  I  have  not  yet  had 
time  to  consult  with  the  worthy  Executive,  the  honor  of 
presiding  over  the  fight  is  still  to  be  accepted  or  declined. 
It  is  most  probable,  however,  that  I  will  have  other  en- 
gagements on  that  day. 

Reading  a  paragraph  in  one  of  the  papers  to-day,  recalled 
to  my  mind  very  vividly  a  most  impressive  incident  of  the 
early  and  dark  days  of  the  rebellion.  When  Baltimore 
treason  severed  communication  between  the  loyal  North 
and  the  national  capital,  and  the  stoutest-hearted  quailed 
under  the  impenetrable  gloom  that  enveloped  us,  I  was  in 
constant  council  day  and  night  with  three  men  in  Harris- 
burg  who  were  struggling  in  the  very  depths  of  despair  to 
bring  a  ray  of  hope  upon  the  country's  cause.  Governor 
Curtin,  ever  noble  among  the  noblest  in  the  day  of  trial, 
and  Colonel  Scott,  as  faithful  as  he  was  boundless  in  re- 
sources, were  two  of  the  three  upon  whom  devolved  the 


GENERAL  FIT Z- JO  UN  PORTER.  339 

grave  responsibility  of  acting  for  an  imperiled  nation  with- 
out advices  from  its  head.  By  them  sat  a  young  officer, 
whose  fine  face  seemed  to  knit  with  firmer  purpose  as  cloud 
piled  upon  cloud,  and  whose  keen,  dark  eye  flashed  with  pa- 
triotic defiance  as  dangers  thickened  around  our  flag.  Sher- 
man, then  commanding  a  battery,  was  hurrying  on  from 
the  West,  and  brave  volunteers  were  swarming  from  every 
hill  and  valley  of  Pennsylvania  to  answer  the  call  of  their 
beloved  Executive.  I  shall  never  forget  the  answer  of  the 
young  officer  to  the  question,  "  What  shall  be  done?"  In 
manner  fitting  the  noble  words  he  uttered,  with  all  the  ardor 
of  a  patriot,  yet  with  the  stern  dignity  of  a  true  soldier,  he 
said,  "March  through  Baltimore.  I  will  lead  the  troops 
through  or  over  the  ashes  of  Baltimore  to  my  chief.  The 
loyal  people  shall  not  be  obstructed  by  treason  on  the 
highway  to  their  beleaguered  capitol."  He  was  armed  with 
the  authority  of  Winfield  Scott,  on  whose  staff  he  was  act- 
ing ;  and  he  would  have  marched  as  he  proposed,  had  not 
the  Annapolis  route  been  opened  and  orders  reached  him 
to  avoid  Baltimore  before  he  was  prepared  to  move  his 
forces.  I  saw  him  rise  in  command  as  the  war  progressed, 
until  he  wore  the  twin  stars  won  in  hotly-contested  and 
skillfully-directed  battles.  I  afterward  saw  him  fall  be- 
fore the  verdict  of  a  court-martial  that  clouded  him  with 
dishonor  and  made  him  an  alien  to  the  nationality  for 
which  he  had  offered  his  life.  I  felt  then  that  he  might 
have  erred  in  feeling  or  in  judgment,  but  that  he  was  faith- 
less I  could  not  accept,  although  the  common  peril  forbade 
agitation  for  individual  justice.  I  need  hardly  say  I  refer 
to  the  case  of  Fitz-John  Porter.  I  am  glad  indeed  to  see 
that,  in  obedience  to  the  request  of  many  prominent  men 
who  were  once  his  accusers,  his  case  is  likely  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  another  court,  wherein  prejudice  and  jealousies 
will  not  defeat  a  just  judgment.  I  never  met  General 


340      MRS.  SWISSHELM  AND    GENERAL    GRANT. 

Porter  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  the  day  the 
nation  was  stricken  in  sorrow  by  the  defeat  of  Rosecrans 
at  Chickamauga.  We  sat  together  in  a  car  when  the  dis- 
patch was  handed  me,  and,  although  he  was  then  formally 
adjudged  a  stranger  to  his  country,  no  one  was  more 
deeply  affected  by  that  country's  disaster.  In  his  case 
there  should  not  be  generosity,  but  there  should  be  justice. 
The  crimsoned  surges  of  fraternal  war  have  subsided.  The 
dead  cannot  be  restored ;  but  if  the  living  have  been  doomed 
to  worse  than  death  wrongfully,  there  can  be  atonement. 

I  see  that  my  belligerent  friend  and  correspondent,  Mrs. 
Swisshelm,  has  succeeded  in  "  hammering"  Judge  Wil- 
liams into  the  Republican  nomination  for  Supreme  Judge, 
and  thereby  done  the  Republicans  a  kindness.  She  now 
seems  to  be  engaged  in  the  laudable  task  of  "  hammering" 
General  Grant  into  the  Republican  nomination  for  the  Presi- 
dency. Although  I  have  been  out  of  the  current  of  national 
politics  for  some  months,  I  feel  warranted  in  saying  that 
her  pungent  blows  are  not  necessary  to  secure  that  end. 
He  alone  of  our  great  captains,  who  brightened  and  faded 
in  the  terrible  crucible  of  war,  gave  the  Republic  its  new 
lease  of  regenerated  life  ;  and  even  if  he  erred  in  magnanim- 
ity when  he  was  crowned  the  great  victor,  neither  the 
judgment  of  the  people  nor  the  pen  of  history  will  so  record 
it.  No  man  has  more  resolutely  and  faithfully  braved 
treason,  either  in  the  field  or  in  the  councils  of  the  nation, 
than  General  Grant;  and  the  time  is  not  distant  when  his 
administration  of  the  War  Department  will  be  accepted  by 
all  as  but  a  new  proof  of  his  unfaltering  devotion  to  the 
right.  If  he  shall  not  be  the  next  President,  I  think  it  will 
be  because  so  many  days  have  not  been  allotted  him  on 
earth. 

I  have  been  surprised  at  the  earnestness  with  which 
several  old  friends  in  recent  letters  have  inquired  whether 


FUTURE    VISITS   TO  MONTANA.  341 

it  is  true,  as  reported,  that  I  mean  to  make  Montana  my 
home.  I  had  no  such  purpose  when  I  left  the  "  Green 
Spot,"  and  have  no  such  purpose  now.  Considerations 
not  anticipated  when  I  started  for  the  Far  West  have  in- 
duced me  to  protract  my  stay  until  next  spring ;  and  not 
the  least  of  these  is  the  decided  and  apparently  permanent 
improvement  in  the  health  of  those  I  most  love.  I  hope  in 
after-years,  when  the  locomotive  shall  travel  these  mount- 
ains and  the  savage  live  only  in  history,  to  re-visit  with 
each  summer  the  fertile  valleys  and  marvelous  wealth  of 
Montana;  but  when  I  seek  the  shelter  of  my  own  home 
it  will  be  where  spring  and  autumn  wear  their  crowning 
beauties,  and  where  old  Winter  is  not  lord  of  the  seasons. 
If  the  same  kind  Providence  that  has  thus  far  protected 
us  from  every  danger  shall  so  will  it,  the  return  of  another 
spring  will  find  me  again  mingling  with  the  valued  friends 
I  left  behind  as  I  journeyed  toward  the  setting  sun. 


30 


LETTER    XXXVII. 

How  Gold  and  Silver  are  produced. — Gulch-  or  Placer-Diggings. 
— How  the  Gulches  are  worked. — Devices  to  save  the  Gold  in 
washing  the  Earth. — How  Miners  make  Laws. — The  Sanctity 
of  their  Mining-Laws. — Quartz-Mining. — How  Miners  procure 
the  Ores.— Shafts,  Tunnels,  and  Drifts. — Hoisting  by  Windlass, 
Whim,  and  Steam. — Foul  Air  and  Water. — Selecting  Quartz. — 
Difference  in  Color  and  Quality. — Crushing  the  Ores. — Amal- 
gamating the  Gold  with  Quicksilver. — Working  Sulphurets. — 
Arastras  and  Barrels — Stamp-Mills  and  Chilian  Mills. — Silver- 
Ores. — Smelting  Galena  Silver-Ores. — The  Clean-Up. — Amal- 
gam.—The  Brick  of  Gold. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  October  2,  1867. 

How  is  gold  produced?  This  question  could  be  an- 
swered in  general  terms  by  almost  any  intelligent  person ; 
but  there  are  few,  without  personal  observation  in  mining- 
regions,  who  have  any  just  conception  of  the  intricate  de- 
tails necessary  to  the  production  of  the  precious  metals. 
All  know  that  millions  are  annually  developed  from  the 
various  gulches  and  mines  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  Terri- 
tories and  States,  and  the  difference  between  placers  and 
quartz-mines  is  popularly  understood ;  but  of  the  skill, 
patience,  and  labor  essential  to  produce  gold,  even  by  the 
simplest  process,  the  public  generally  have  no  sort  of  cor- 
rect appreciation. 

Gulch-  or  placer-mining  is  the  simplest  method  of  taking 
gold  from  the  earth.  Gulches  are  simply  the  ravines  into 
which  the  gold-croppings  of  rich  leads  in  the  mountain- 
cliffs  are  washed.  Surface-  or  blossom-quartz  is  usually 
(342) 


GULCH-    OR  PLACER-MINING.  343 

found  on  any  hill  in  which  valuable  mines  slumber,  and 
the  elements  gradually  decompose  it  until  it  separates  the 
particles  of  gold  from  the  flint  or  iron  that  holds  it  captive, 
and  its  specific  gravity  forces  it  not  only  down  into  the 
gulch,  but  down  through  the  earth  to  the  very  bottom  or 
bed-rock  of  the  ravine.  This  gold,  coming  as  it  does  from 
decomposed  rock,  is  entirely  "free  gold,"  and  has  no  mix- 
ture of  the  base  metals,  so  that  no  peculiar  scientific  attain- 
ments are  requisite  to  master  it.  Its  existence  in  a  gulch 
is  easily  ascertained  by  the  simplest  implements.  A  spade, 
pick,  and  pan  are  all  that  the  prospecter  requires.  His  pan 
is  made  of  sheet-iron,  and  holds  about  a  peck.  The  centre 
of  the  course  of  the  washing  is  found,  the  pan  half  filled 
with  the  earth,  and  it  is  washed  out  by  dipping  and  whirl- 
ing the  pan  in  water  until  the  loose  earth  escapes  with  the 
water,  while  the  gold,  iron,  and  pebbles  remain.  All  the 
science  necessary  to  save  gulch-gold  is  the  appreciation  of 
the  fact  that  gold  is  the  heaviest  of  all  substances  in  the 
earth,  and  will  always  attain  the  lowest  point  it  can  find. 
As  the  earth  is  whirled  around  in  the  water,  the  gold 
gradually  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  pan,  and,  when  there 
is  no  more  earth  to  wash  out,  the  pebbles  are  picked  out. 
A  little  pocket-magnet,  stirred  around  in  the  pan,  will  take 
out  all  the  iron  by  adhesion,  and  leave  the  pure  gold  or 
"  dust."  This  dust  varies  in  value  according  to  its  fineness  ; 
and  its  marketable  price  is  from  twelve  to  nineteen  dollars 
per  ounce  (troy)  in  gold  coin.  The  lowest  standard  of 
"  dust"  has  some  silver  mixed  with  it ;  but  different  gulches 
will  produce  gold  ranging  in  degrees  of  fineness  as  much 
as  twenty  per  cent.  Any  expert  dealer  in  gold  in  estab- 
lished mining-regions  can,  at  a  glance,  usually  tell  the 
gulch  from  which  any  lot  of  dust  has  been  taken.  In  the 
early  settlement  of  all  mining-countries,  gold  is  the  only 
legal  tender  in  all  business  transactions,  unless  there  is  a 


344  HOW  MINERS  MAKE  LAWS. 

special  contract  for  currency.  Every  man  carries  a  buck- 
skin purse,  and  when  he  buys  anything,  from  a  plug  of  to- 
bacco to  a  gold-mine,  the  dust  is  weighed  out  in  payment 
at  its  standard  value  per  ounce. 

The  various  methods  for  separating  the  gold  from  the 
earth  of  the  gulches  are  all  exceedingly  simple  while  the 
first  placer-miners  are  working  it.  They  usually  make 
their  own  "  district  laws,"  the  district  embracing  any  par- 
ticular camp  or  gulch.  They  meet  in  mass  council,  and 
adopt  their  code,  their  land-laws,  their  water-laws,  and  all 
needful  regulations  for  their  enforcement.  The  local  or 
district  laws  have  always  been  respected,  both  by  Terri- 
torial and  Congressional  enactments, — so  that  no  better 
primary  title  can  be  procured  than  a  clear  title  under  the 
district  laws.  When  disputes  arise,  they  try  titles  to 
claims  or  water  either  by  a  jury  or  by  general  meeting,  as 
may  be  the  adopted  custom ;  and  from  the  decision  of  the 
district  tribunal  there  is  no  appeal.  Indeed,  to  demur  is 
not  often  even  safe.  The  dreaded  tribunal  of  Judge  Lynch 
is  certain  to  be  invoked  by  attempted  resistance  to  the 
judgment  of  the  local  court. 

The  claims  are  usually  parceled  in  lots  of  one  hundred 
or  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  up  and  down  the  gulch,  and 
embracing  its  entire  width.  The  local  laws  are  scrupu- 
lously careful  to  prevent  monopoly  of  water,  and  it  is  econ- 
omized, if  scarce,  so  as  to  afford  the  greatest  advantage  to 
all.  Each  owner,  or  owners,  of  a  claim  (they  generally 
mine  and  cabin  in  couples)  erects  a  flume,  or  digs  a  ditch, 
through  which  to  wash  the  dirt  of  his  claim  from  each  side 
down  to  the  depth  of  the  bed-rock.  Their  labor  consists 
in  simply  digging  the  earth  loose,  and  shoveling  it  into  the 
ditch  or  flume,  through  which  it  is  washed  away,  while  a 
portion — usually  about  one-half — of  the  gold  is  saved  by 
various  contrivances.  Sometimes  the  bottom  of  the  flume 


WASHING    THE  "PAY-DIRT."  345 

is  made  of  a  thick  plank,  into  which  are  bored  a  number 
of  large  auger-holes,  just  deep  enough  not  to  go  through. 
The  "  pay-dirt"  is  washed  down  over  this  perforated  board, 
and  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  gold  will  lodge  in  the 
holes.  They  will,  of  course,  first  fill  up  with  sand ;  but 
the  gold  will  find  the  least  depression  in  the  surface  over 
which  it  is  passing,  and  work  down  through  the  sand  and 
earth  to  the  bottom  of  the  holes.  At  the  foot  of  the  sluice 
or  flume  a  cross-piece  is  usually  placed,  about  an  inch  thick, 
to  make  a  ripple;  and  sometimes  cross-pieces  are  placed  at 
every  ten  or  twenty  feet,  so  that  the  earth  passes  over  a 
succession  of  ripples.  The  ripples  lodge  a  quantity  of  the 
earth,  the  gold  sinks  down  in  it  to  the  bottom,  and  there 
remains  until  there  is  a  clean-up.  Sometimes  small  boxes 
are  placed  at  the  end  of  the  ditch  or  flume,  into  which  the 
water  and  earth  empty,  and,  while  the  earth  washes  out  by 
.the  continuous  current,  the  gold  lodges  safely  in  the  bot- 
tom. In  some  instances  a  quantity  of  quicksilver  is  poured 
into  the  boxes  to  amalgamate  the  gold.  The  finest  particle 
of  gold,  unless  covered  with  iron,  will  amalgamate  with 
the  mercury  at  once,  and  cannot  be  separated  from  it  until 
the  mercury  is  strained  out  through  buckskin.  Copper 
plates,  amalgamated  with  quicksilver,  are  also  sometimes 
used  in  gulch-mining,  but  not  generally.  The  bottom  of 
the  flume  is  covered  with  copper,  and  the  copper  coated 
completely  with  quicksilver;  the  earth  is  then  washed 
over  it,  and  fine  particles  of  gold  will  amalgamate  on  the 
plate.  When  the  general  clean-up  is  made — usually  once  in 
one  or  two  weeks — the  various  boxes,  ripples,  holes,  etc. 
for  catching  the  gold  are  emptied,  and  "  panned  out,"  by 
washing  the  earth  and  gravel  away,  and  the  pure  gold  will 
be  found  in  the  bottom  of  the  pan. 

The  gulch-miners  work  their  claims  very  imperfectly. 
It  is  deemed  a  safe  calculation  that  they  leave  quite  as 

30* 


346  QUAR  TZ-  MINING. 

much  in  the  earth  as  they  extract,  and  more  systematic 
men  with  heavy  capital  follow  them,  buy  up  the  abandoned 
claims  for  miles  together,  and  sometimes  concentrate  a 
whole  gulch  in  one  company.  They  often  bring  water  for 
miles  by  flumes,  and  cut  a  bed-rock  flume  the  whole  length 
of  their  claims,  through  which  they  conduct  a  strong 
stream  of  water.  Into  this  they  throw  the  whole  earth  of 
the  gulch,  and  often  bring  down  the  whole  hill-sides  into 
the  flume  by  hydraulic  power.  They  save  the  gold  as  the 
earth  passes  through  the  flume,  on  the  same  principles  as 
their  predecessors  did,  only  with  much  more  system  and 
completeness.  This  secondary  process  of  gulch-mining  is 
just  now  in  its  zenith  in  Montana,  and  this  year  it  will 
yield  millions  of  gold. 

But  the  most  important  and  permanent  mining-interest 
is  the  reduction  of  gold  and  silver  quartz,  and  the  separa- 
tion of  the  precious  metals  from  the  rock.  I  have  seen 
this  process  from  the  mines  to  the  retort,  both  in  Colorado 
and  Montana;  and  it  is  a  study  that  must  interest  any  ob- 
server. The  gold  and  silver  mines  do  not  differ  essentially 
from  the  general  laws  which  govern  mineral  and  coal 
leads  in  the  States,  and  they  are  worked  in  the  same 
manner.  When  opened  properly,  they  are  clearly  defined 
as  a  rule,  have  fixed  walls  with  regular  pitches,  and  can 
be  followed  by  experienced  men  with  great  certainty.  In 
most  of  the  mines  practical  Cornishmen  direct  the  devel- 
opment of  the  leads.  Shafts  are  sunk  about  six  feet  square, 
usually  on  the  leads,  the  sides  well  timbered,  and  when  a 
certain  depth  is  attained — from  forty  to  sixty  feet — a 
level  is  run  both  ways  from  the  shafts,  and  all  the  ore 
above  the  level  is  "  stoped  out."  Instead  of  working 
down  from  the  top,  the  miners  work  up  from  the  bottom. 
They  run  a  "  drift"  from  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  out  under 
the  ore  as  far  as  may  be  expedient,  make  a  floor  of  firm 


FOUL  AIR   AND    WATER.  347 

timbers,  so  as  to  protect  them  when  they  make  their  next 
level  below,  and  then  dig  or  blast  the  ore  down  overhead. 
They  select  the  ore  from  the  rock  and  earth  as  it  falls 
down,  and  wheel  it  out  to  the  shaft  for  hoisting  up,  while 
the  refuse  drops  under  their  feet  and  keeps  them  up  to 
their  stope  all  the  time.  When  they  have  worked  up  as 
far  as  there  is  ore,  they  go  down  with  their  shaft  twenty 
or  forty  feet  more,  drift  out  again,  timber  as  before,  and 
then  stope  up  to  the  floor  of  the  first  level,  and  so  on  in- 
definitely. The  miners  work  day  and  night  in  "  shifts," 
changing  from  day- to  night-work  every  one  or  two  weeks. 
There  is  no  day  in  the  mines  :  night  is  perpetual.  They 
work  by  the  light  of  sperm  candles,  and  for  a  candlestick 
they  use  a  lump  of  soft  kneaded  clay,  in  which  they  imbed 
the  lower  end  of  the  candle,  and  they  shift  it  at  pleasure 
by  sticking  the  clay  against  a  rock.  Wherever  it  is  placed 
it  adheres:  so  that  handling,  changing,  and  using  this 
light  most  advantageously  involves  no  trouble.  At  first 
the  ore  is  hoisted  from  shafts  by  a  common  windlass;  but, 
as  a  greater  depth  is  attained,  horse-power  is  attached 
to  a  "  whim"  for  the  purpose,  and  often  steam-engines 
are  used.  Foul  air  is  always  encountered  more  or  less 
as  shafts  descend.  As  long  as  the  miner's  candle  will 
burn  brightly,  he  can  feel  sure  that  the  air  is  pure ;  but 
when  it  burns  in  a  sickly  manner  or  goes  out,  he  is  ad- 
monished of  the  danger.  The  engine  is  then  employed  to 
force  a  current  of  fresh  air  through  pipes  to  the  bottom 
of  the  shaft,  and  the  foul  air  is  driven  out.  Water  is 
sometimes  very  troublesome  in  shafts,  and  pumps  have  to 
be  worked  by  steam  to  keep  it  out  of  the  way  of  the 
miners.  The  better  method  of  mining,  where  the  mines 
lie  in  hills,  is  by  tunnels, — horizontal  shafts  run  into  the 
ground  from  the  hill-side  until  the  lead  is  struck.  The 
earth  is  run  out  on  a  little  hand-car  and  dumped  down  at 


348  SELECTING   QUARTZ. 

the  mouth  of  the  tunnel.  When  quartz  is  found,  the  miners 
work  up  from  the  tunnel,  as  they  stope  out  a  level  in  a 
shaft,  and  car  out  only  the  valuable  ore.  Water  cannot 
impede  mining  by  tunnel,  as  it  drains  all  the  water  to  the 
mouth,  and  air-chambers  are  also  placed  in  the  bottom  of 
the  tunnel,  and  sometimes  above  also,  by  which  pure  air 
can  be  preserved  to  a  great  depth.  When  the  tunnel  be- 
comes too  deep  for  supplying  pure  air  from  the  mouth,  an 
air-shaft  is  worked  up  perpendicularly  to  the  surface.  A 
constant  current  of  air  is  thus  secured,  and  the  tunnel  can 
then  be  driven  for  hundreds  of  feet  again.  The  miners 
not  only  dig  the  ore,  but  they  select  it  carefully  from  the 
granite.  An  experienced  miner  will  distinguish  quartz  as 
soon  as  he  gets  his  hands  on  it,  and  needs  no  particular 
examination  to  determine  its  quality.  He  is  familiar  with 
the  peculiarities  of  the  lead  he  is  working,  and  can  tell  at 
once  whether  a  rock  is  granite  or  first-  or  second-class 
quartz.  This  requires  considerable  practical  experience. 
I  have  seen  gold-quartz  of  every  conceivable  color  and 
formation, — white  crystal,  cold  gray,  all  shades  of  blue, 
yellow,  and  pink,  and  every  shade  of  dark  to  jet-black. 
Quartz  is  usually  very  rich  when  gold  can  be  detected  in 
it  with  the  naked  eye.  Miners  understand  what  particu- 
lar formations  carry  the  gold;  and  they  seldom  err  in 
estimating  its  value.  In  sulphurets  the  iron  will  glisten 
with  a  brilliancy  that  makes  any  inexperienced  observer 
pronounce  it  gold ;  but  the  gold  is  infused  in  the  iron  in 
very  fine  particles,  and  seldom  can  be  seen  at  all.  Occa- 
sionally nugget-gold  will  be  found  in  quartz;  but  it  is  only 
in  rare  specimens  of  uncommon  richness  that  the  gold  ap- 
pears in  that  way.  The  average  cost  of  mining  ore  in 
Colorado  I  would  estimate  at  five  dollars  per  ton.  In 
Montana  it  costs  probably  eight  dollars  per  ton ;  but  its 
development  will  be  cheapened  as  it  is  systematized. 


CRUSHING    THE  ORES.  349 

When  the  ore  is  mined,  it  is  delivered  to  the  mill  either 
by  wagons  or  railways,  where  it  is  broken  about  as  fine  as 
stone  is  usually  broken  on  a  good  turnpike  road.  This  is 
sometimes  done  by  a  machine,  called  a  "cracker;"  but 
usually  by  hand  with  the  common  sledge.  It  is  then 
ready  for  crushing;  and  the  process  in  most  general  use 
is  the  stamp-mill.  Each  mill  has  from  two  to  six  "  bat- 
teries ;"  each  battery  having  five  stamps,  which  consist  of 
heavy,  round  bars  of  iron,  set  perpendicularly,  widening  at 
the  bottom,  on  which  is  fitted  a  steel  shoe.  Beneath  the 
shoe  is  a  steel  die,  firmly  imbedded,  on  which  the  stamp 
drops.  It  is  hoisted  by  each  revolution  of  the  machinery 
to  a  certain  point,  whirling  partly  around  as  it  hoists; 
and  its  force  consists  simply  in  the  drop  of  its  weight 
upon  the  die.  Each  battery  is  surrounded  with  an  iron 
frame  or  box,  into  which  the  ore  is  thrown  and  a  strong 
stream  of  water  pours  constantly.  On  the  outer  side  of 
the  battery,  the  water  issues  through  a  screen  or  sieve,  and 
with  it  is  carried  the  fine  quartz  as  it  is  pulverized,  so  that 
feeding  goes  on  constantly  to  supply  the  place  of  the  fine 
quartz  as  it  escapes.  In  the  battery  is  placed  a  quantity 
of  quicksilver,  with  which  a  large  proportion  of  the  gold 
amalgamates  as  the  rock  is  crushed,  and  is  held  there  until 
the  "  clean-up."  Many  particles  of  the  gold,  however, 
escape  with  the  fine  quartz  through  the  screen  before  it  is 
brought  in  contact  with  the  mercury ;  and,  in  order  to 
catch  it,  the  water  and  quartz  from  the  latter  are  run  over 
copper  plates,  from  two  to  four  feet  wide,  and  ten  to  twenty 
in  length,  amalgamated  with  quicksilver.  If  the  plate  is 
properly  coated,  every  particle  of  free  gold  will  reach  the 
bed  of  the  plate  in  passing  over  it,  and  safely  lodge  in  the 
mercury;  but,  if  the  gold  is  impregnated  with  the  base 
metals,  it  will  not  amalgamate  with  the  mercury.  It  will 
pass  over  the  plates  and  sink  in  the  boxes  or  ripples  (such 


350  WORK  TNG   SULPIIURETS. 

as  are  used  in  gulch-mining,  and  before  described),  while 
the  light  earth  and  sand  will  wash  away.  These  mixtures 
of  gold  with  the  base  metals  are  called  sulphurets ;  and 
they  have  been  worked  successfully  in  Montana  thus  far  by 
arastras  or  barrels.  An  arastra  is  simply  a  carefully-laid 
bed  of  stone,  about  eight  or  ten  feet  in  diameter,  encircled 
with  a  wooden  rim ;  an  upright  shaft  stands  in  the  centre, 
with  two  arms  extending  out,  to  each  of  which  is  attached 
a  heavy  rock  with  a  smooth  under-face.  It  is  so  attached 
as  to  be  raised  a  little  in  front,  while  the  main  weight  of 
the  rock  drags  on  the  stone  floor.  Into  this  bed  from  three 
to  five  hundred  pounds  or  more  of  sulphurets  are  thrown, 
quicksilver  is  added,  and  a  stream  of  water  is  turned  on  to 
it.  A  mule  is  hitched  to  the  shaft  on  a  floor  above,  and 
he  drags  the  headstones  around  over  the  sulphurets  until 
they  are  pulverized  into  almost  impalpable  powder ;  and 
then  they  are  panned  out,  just  as  prospecters  pan  earth  in 
gulches,  or  sluiced  off  over  amalgamated  plates.  Some 
stamp-mills  have  metal  pans,  in  which  their  tailings,  or 
sulphurets,  are  worked  on  the  principle  of  the  arastra  ;  and 
other  mills  have  wrought-iron  barrels  about  three  feet  in 
diameter,  and  five  feet  long,  in  which  are  half  a  dozen  or 
more  large  metal  balls.  The  sulphurets  are  put  in  the  bar- 
rels, about  three  hundred  pounds  to  each,  and  the  barrels 
run  about  twenty  revolutions  per  minute.  The  constant 
shifting  of  the  tailings  and  rolling  of  the  balls  rapidly  re- 
duce the  base  metals  and  separate  the  gold,  which  amal- 
gamates with  the  mercury  mixed  with  it  in  the  barrels. 
By  these  different  processes  the  mills  are  usually  run 
about  twenty-four  hours  on  a  charge ;  and  then  the  results 
are  sluiced  off  and  panned  out  by  the  ordinary  panning 
process.  In  Colorado  the  gold  is  mainly  found  so  mixed 
with  the  base  metals  as  to  defy  reduction  and  amalgama- 
tion ;  hence  the  signal  failure  of  mining-operations  there 


CHILIAN  MILLS.  351 

thus  far  ;  but  this  season  will,  I  believe,  thoroughly  master 
their  most  refractory  ores,  and  enable  that  rich  Territory 
to  resume  its  former  yield  of  millions  annually.  In  Mon- 
tana the  ores  have  thus  far  been  easily  mastered.  An- 
other process  for  crushing  the  ores  is  the  Chilian  mill, — 
consisting  of  heavy  metal  pans,  five  feet  in  diameter,  in 
which  massive  metal  wheels  revolve,  weighing  from  one 
to  two  tons  each.  A  current  of  water  flows  constantly 
into  each  pan,  the  main  body  of  the  gold  is  amalgamated 
with  the  mercury  in  the  pans,  and  the  fine  quartz  issues 
through  screens  over  amalgamated  plates,  just  as  in  stamp- 
mills.  This  process  of  crushing  is,  I  think,  preferable  to 
that  of  the  stamp-mills,  and  will  do  more  work  with  less 
power  and  wear  and  tear  of  machinery;  but  it  requires 
more  care  and  skill  in  its  use,  and  for  that  reason  is  not  so 
acceptable.  There  are  no  other  processes  for  crushing 
ores  that  have  attained  any  measure  of  confidence ;  but 
there  are  innumerable  patents  for  separating  the  gold  after 
the  ore  is  crushed.  Silver-ores  are  usually  roasted  before 
crushing;  and  gold-ores  intermixed  with  silver  are  also 
improved  for  reduction  by  roasting.  Silver-ores  contain- 
ing forty  per  cent,  or  more  of  lead  can  be  reduced  readily 
by  smelting,  as  the  lead  serves  to  flux  the  ore ;  but  if  less 
than  forty  per  cent,  of  lead  is  found  in  it,  it  cannot  be 
smelted  in  this  section  so  as  to  pay.  Lead  is  worth  from 
thirty  to  seventy  cents  per  pound,  and  salt  ten  dollars  per 
hundred  pounds.  The  ingredients  are  too  costly  as  yet 
for  the  reduction  of  any  other  than  the  galena  silve"r- 
ores,  excepting  by  the  ordinary  crushing  and  amalga- 
mating process  in  use  to  produce  free  gold.  In  Colorado 
some  of  their  refractory  ores  are  smelted,  and  the  gold, 
silver,*  copper,  etc.  all  run  out  in  bars  together  and  then 
shipped  to  Swansea  for  separation;  but  I  do  not  know 
the  measure  of  success  that  has  attended  the  effort.  The 


352  AMALGAM. 

Consolidated  Gregory  Company  of  Colorado  is  working 
by  this  process,  but  has  as  yet  paid  no  dividends. 

After  a  run  has  been  made  in  a  quartz-mill  (usually  from 
one  to  three  weeks),  they  clean  up.  The  batteries  or  pans 
are  run  down  low,  and  then  the  mercury  and  remaining 
fine  quartz  scooped  out  for  the  process  of  panning.  A 
small  pan  is  filled  with  the  quartz  and  quicksilver  out  of 
the  battery,  and  whirled  around  in  the  water  until  the  sand 
and  earth  are  washed  out,  and  nothing  but  the  mercury 
(holding  the  gold)  and  heavy  sulphurets  remain.  The 
quicksilver  is  then  poured  out  from  under  the  particles  of 
ore  and  iron,  a  magnet  is  run  through  it  to  separate  the 
particles  of  pure  iron,  and  the  residue,  which  contains  gold 
in  iron,  is  pulverized  in  a  hard  mortar,  and  what  little  gold 
can  be  saved  is  gathered  in  mercury.  The  amalgamated 
plates,  over  which  the  pulverized  ore  has  been  passed,  are 
then  carefully  scraped  with  square  pieces  of  rubber,  and 
the  gold  (mixed  with  mercury)  is  added  to  the  mercury 
from  the  batteries.  The  tailings  caught  in  the  boxes  and 
ripples  are  then  emptied,  to  be  worked  over  in  an  arastra 
or  barrels.  The  quicksilver  gathered  from  the  plates  and 
batteries  then  contains  all  the  gold  saved  by  the  run ;  but 
the  gold  is  in  invisible  particles  in  the  mercury.  The  mer- 
cury is  then  strained  out  of  the  gold  through  buckskin, 
leaving  so  many  ounces  of  "  amalgam"  as  the  clean-up. 
The  amalgam  is  worth  from  five  to  seven  dollars  per  ounce, 
depending  upon  the  fine  or  the  coarse  quality  of  the  gold 
— the  gold  that  is  coarsest  in  its  particles  being  the  most 
valuable,  as  the  mercury  can  be  better  strained  out  of  it. 

The  amalgam  is  about  the  consistency  of  thick  meal 
mush,  and  nearly  the  same  color, — the  gold  giving  the  mer- 
cury a  soft,  yellow  color.  It  has  yet  to  be  retorted  before 
it  is  pure  gold.  The  amalgam  is  placed  in  a  little  iron  box, 
much  like  a  brick-mould,  full  of  fine  needle-holes.  The  box 


THE  BRICK  OF  GOLD.  353 

is  so  constructed  as  to  allow  the  lid  to  be  pressed  down 
with  clamps  and  screws  until  the  amalgam  is  compressed 
in  the  smallest  possible  space.  It  is  then  set  inside  of  an- 
other iron  box,  three  times  its  size,  and  a  lid  fitted  on  it 
perfectly  air-tight,  by  means  of  clay  joints.  In  the  top  of 
the  larger  box  there  is  a  hole,  probably  an  inch  in  diameter, 
to  which  is  attached  a  pipe  that  comes  down  to  the  level 
of  the  bottom  of  the  box,  at  a  distance  of  probably  three 
feet.  The  box  is  then  set  in  a  small  furnace,  and  the  end 
of  the  pipe  placed  in  a  tub  of  water.  A  hot  fire  is  made 
around  the  box  until  it  is  heated  to  a  red  heat,  when 
the  heat  evaporates  the  quicksilver,  in  the  inner  box, 
through  the  needle-holes  into  the  larger  box,  whence  it 
escapes  as  vapor  through  the  pipe  into  the  water,  where 
it  congeals,  and  is  found  in  the  bottom  of  the  tub,  pure 
quicksilver  again.  This  heat  is  continued  until  all  the 
quicksilver  is  evaporated  from  the  gold  and  congealed 
in  the  tub,  when  the  box  is  taken  out,  cooled,  opened, 
and  in  the  inner  box  will  be  found  a  little  brick,  probably 
half  the  size  of  an  ordinary  building-brick,  the  fruits  of 
mining,  hauling,  stamping,  panning,  etc.  twenty,  forty,  or, 
it  may  be,  one  hundred  tons  of  ore.  The  brick  is  assayed 
to  ascertain  its  actual  value,  and  is  then  ready  for  coining, 
or  for  manufacture  into  any  of  the  thousands  of  articles  for 
which  gold  is  used  In  this  patient,  laborious  manner,  this 
country  is  now  producing  from  seventy  to  one  hundred 
millions  of  the  precious  metals  annually,  at  as  little  profit 
just  now,  taken  as  a  whole,  as  any  other  branch  of  indus- 
try can  complain  of;  but  ten  years  hence  the  yield  should 
be  nearly  double,  without  a  material  increase  in  the  gross 
cost  of  its  production. 

31 


LETTER     XXXVIII. 

The  Indian  Question. — Failure  of  the  Indian  Campaign. — The 
Military  Expeditions  fruitless. —  Fearful  Extent  of  Savagery 
on  the  Plains. — Five  Thousand  "Whites  murdered  in  a  Year. — 
Official  Libels  upon  the  People  of  the  West.— The  Military  and 
Indian  Agents  the  Great  Obstacles  to  Peace. — ~No  Peaceable  In- 
dians on  the  Plains. — What  Professed  Peaceable  Indians  do. — 
The  Butchers  of  Fort  Phil.  Kearney  in'Council  with  the  Mili- 
tary.— No  Demand  for  Punishment. — The  Crows  and  Black- 
feet. — The  Struggle  between  the  Indian  and  the  White  Man. — 
How  Civilization  is  arrested  by  the  Savage.  —  The  Pioneers 
will  advance,  whether  protected  or  not. — How  to  avert  Exter- 
mination.— Abolish  Agencies. — Cease  treating  with  Indians. — 
Choose  Competent  Military  Commanders. — Select  Western 
Troops  to  fight  Hostile  Tribes.  —  Proposed  Surrender  of  the 
Bozeman  Eoute  a  Crime. — Manifest  Destiny. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  October  21,  1867. 
BETWEEN  confused  and  conflicting  telegraphic  reports 
from  the  Plains,  letters  from  army  correspondents  in  the 
field  with  Terry,  Augur,  and  Hancock,  and  official  reports 
of  military  commanders,  commissioners,  agents,  and  con- 
tractors, the  "Tribune"  confesses  to  a  want  of  proper  un- 
derstanding of  the  Indian  question.  As  it  is  seldom  that 
any  two  reports,  letters,  or  official  opinions  agree,  it  is  most 
natural  that  the  public  should  almost  despair  of  any  happy 
solution  of  this  vexed  problem.  I  do  not  assume  to  under- 
stand it  better  than  generals  and  others  who  are  presumed 
to  have  the  very  best  facilities  for  comprehending  it ;  but 
some  things  are  patent  to  all  Western  residents,  who  have 
(354) 


FAILURE  OF  THE  INDIAN  CAMPAIGNS.        355 

every  interest  in  peace,  and  from  that  stand-point  I  shall 
write. 

Some  things  relating  to  what  is  called  the  Indian  war, 
the  public,  East  and  West,  cannot  fail  to  understand.  It 
is  known  to  all  that  General  Sherman  has  had  ten  thou- 
sand troops  on  the  Plains  and  Upper  Missouri  since  April 
last ;  that  they  are  costing  the  government  probably  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  week;  that  no  battle  has  been 
fought  with  the  hostile  tribes  ;  that  no  thoroughfare  has 
been  protected,  and  that,  relying  upon  the  proffered  pro- 
tection of  the  army,  hundreds  of  emigrants  and  settlers 
have  fallen  victims  to  the  scalping-knife.  So  much  has 
passed  into  history,  and  must  be  familiar  to  all  intelligent 
readers.  How  many  lives  have  been  thus  wantonly  sacri- 
ficed, the  nation  will  never  know.  Most  of  them  have 
fallen  without  survivors  to  tell  the  story  of  their  sad  fate. 
I  notice  that  Governor  Crawford,  of  Kansas,  estimates  the 
butcheries  of  settlers  and  emigrants  during  the  past  year 
at  five  thousand ;  and  the  calculation  has  been  received  in 
the  East  with  general  distrust.  Those  who  have  spent 
any  considerable  time  in  the  West  have  good  reason  to 
know  that  the  number  given  is  not  too  large.  I  do  not 
take  up  a  paper  published  between  the  Plains  and  Oregon 
that  does  not  record  some  fiendish  savagery  of  the  Indians ; 
and  there  is  hardly  a  cabin  on  the  Platte  or  the  Smoky 
Hill  route  that  has  not  the  memory  of  the  slain  interwoven 
with  its  history. 

The  people  of  the  Far  West  have  good  reason  to  feel 
sorely  aggrieved  by  the  persistent  and  often  malicious  mis- 
representations of  their  actions  and  purposes.  They,  as  a 
rule,  have  to  suffer  exposure  to  the  scalping-knife,  and  are 
generally  rewarded  for  their  heroism  and  sacrifices  by  stu- 
died calumny.  The  people  of  the  Far  West  are  not  Indian 
traders,  Indian  speculators,  or  Indian  thieves.  They  open 


356     INDIAN  AGENTS  AN  OBSTACLE   TO   PEACE. 

mines  and  gather  harvests  after  patient  toil  and  incalcula- 
ble privations  ;  and  of  all  men  they  most  desire  peace  with 
the  savage.  But  they  have  no  official  relations  with  the 
government ;  and,  when  their  voices  are  raised  in  obedience 
to  the  law  of  self-preservation,  there  are  swarms  of  govern- 
ment officials,  known  as  Indian  agents, — but,  as  a  class,  mere 
Indian  speculators  and  thieves, — -who  are  prompt  to  falsify 
the  condition  and  perils  of  the  pioneers,  and  their  influence 
has  been  fearfully  potential  in  controlling  the  Indian  policy 
of  the  government.  They  are  always  on  the  ground,  always 
ready  to  propose  a  treaty,  and  have  chiefs  trained  to  play 
the  proper  part  to  betray  the  authorities  into  a  fresh  supply 
of  arms  and  ammunition  and  thus  inaugurate  a  series  of 
fresh  murders.  They  have  millions  at  stake.  They  can 
afford  to  pay  well — and  do  pay  well — to  subsidize  govern- 
ment officials  to  let  this  carnival  of  blood  go  on.  Every 
fresh  outbreak  is  imputed  to  the  perfidy  of  the  whites, 
and  the  end  is  compensation  for  Indian  atrocities  and  in- 
creased annuities  for  agents  to  steal.  Turn  to  an  official 
report  made  to  the  government  in  July  or  August  last,  in 
which  an  army-officer  declared  that  the  Indians  of  the 
Plains  had  been  peaceable,  and  faithfully  observed  their 
treaties,  until  the  Bozeman  or  Powder  River  route  was 
opened  against  their  protest  in  the  summer  of  1866.  As 
that  officer  was  on  the  Plains,  he  cannot  plead  ignorance 
in  extenuation  of  his  falsehoods.  To  say  that  he  is  a  sim- 
pleton would  be  the  sublimity  of  charity;  for  he  must  have 
seen  the  rude  graves,  for  three  hundred  miles,  of  the  vic- 
tims of  the  Indian  butchery  of  January,  1865.  The  Platte 
route  was  raided  from  Living  Spring — fifty  miles  east  of 
Denver — almost  to  the  Missouri;  and,  when  the  savages 
had  completed  their  bloody  march,  the  garrison  at  Fort 
Sedgwick  remained  almost  alone  on  the  entire  line,  and  the 
village  of  Julesburg  was  burned  and  the  settlers  murdered 


NO   FRIENDLY  INDIANS   ON  THE  PLAINS.     357 

under  the  very  guns  of  the  fort.  Hollen  Godfrey  ("Old 
Wicked")  was  the  only  ranchman  who  successfully  defended 
his  home.  For  six  weeks  no  mails  passed  over  the  route,  and 
all  the  settlers,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  who  made 
miraculous  escapes  by  flight,  were  killed,  scalped,  and  ter- 
ribly mutilated,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  reserved 
for  a  still  more  horrible  captivity.  At  that  time  the  Pow- 
der River  route  had  not  been  opened  or  garrisoned  by  the 
government.  A  few  emigrants  had  passed  over  it  and  had 
maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians.  No  pre- 
tense of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  government  or  emi- 
grants was  heard  of;  yet  the  Indians,  in  violation  of  their 
treaties,  swept  the  Plains,  in  January,  1865,  from  the 
mountains  to  the  Little  Blue,  when  there  was  not  a  white 
man  between  Laramie  and  the  Gallatin.  The  official  re- 
port made  last  summer,  stating  that  the  Indians  were  wan- 
tonly provoked  to  hostilities  by  the  government  taking 
possession  of  the  Powder  River  route,  was,  therefore, 
deliberately  false;  for  the  author  could  not  have  been 
mistaken,  and  in  no  way  can  it  be  reconciled  with  integ- 
rity. 

I  beg  to  impress  this  important  and,  to  Western  men, 
self-evident  truth  upon  your  readers  and  the  national  au- 
thorities,— that  there  are  no  friendly  Indians  on  the  Plains. 
There  has  been  no  peace  since  the  settlement  of  Colorado, 
although  hostile  tribes  have  not  confederated  to  make  war 
until  recently.  There  is  not  a  single  nomadic  tribe  east 
of  the  mountains  that  is  at  heart  friendly  with  the  whites, 
— not  one  that  does  not,  when  opportunity  is  offered  with 
apparent  safety,  steal,  and  murder  if  necessary,  and  often 
murder  wantonly.  The  Utes,  Crows,  and  some  others 
are  the  implacable  foes  of  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes. 
They  have  no  traditions  of  peace  between  their  tribes, 
and  they  hate  each  other  with  a  hatred  more  deadly  than 

31* 


358  THE   CHIVINGTON  MASSACRE. 

they  can  cherish  for  the  whites.  The  so-called  peaceable 
tribes  are,  therefore,  only  those  who  are  in  perpetual,  ex- 
terminating strife  with  the  tribes  openly  at  war  with  the 
government.  There  were  no  peaceable  tribes  in  the 
mountains,  or  on  the  Pacific  slopes,  until  they  were  taught 
submission  by  the  most  relentless  warfare.  Wassakie's 
little  band  at  Fort  Bridger  is  peaceable  ;  but  he  mourns 
more  than  half  his  warriors  slain  in  battle.  The  Ban- 
nocks and  Snakes  were  taught  peace  by  bloody  discom- 
fiture, leaving  them  only  the  alternative  of  peace  or 
extermination.  The  battalions  and  batteries  of  Harney 
and  Conner  persuaded  the  fragments  of  these  tribes  to 
bow  to  the  progress  of  the  pale-faces.  White  Antelope, 
who  was  killed  with  most  of  his  band  at  Sand  Creek  by 
Colonel  Chivington,  was  professedly  at  peace  with  the 
whites.  I  do  not  believe  that  he  meant  to  be  at  war.  I 
cannot  justify  the  indiscriminate  massacre  of  his  band, 
nor  do  the  people  of  Colorado  ;  for  that  massacre  blasted 
all  Colonel  Chivington's  political  aspirations.  But  of  the 
more  than  a  dozen  of  credible  men  I  have  met  personally, 
who  participated  in  that  affair,  every  one  has  assured  me 
that  they  found  many  white  female  scalps  in  possession  of 
the  dead,  and  every  species  of  plunder  taken  from  the 
whites.  They  were,  in  the  government  sense,  peaceable 
Indians  ;  but  among  them,  with  the  knowledge  of  all,  were 
the  most  remorseless  murderers,,  who  were  shielded  "by 
Antelope  and  his  followers.  Spotted  Tail  and  his  band 
are  peaceable,  in  the  popular  acceptation  of  the  term ;  but 
General  Sherman  must  know — for  General  Augur  is  my 
authority  for  saying  it — that  in  his  band  are  a  number  who 
participated  in  the  Fort  Phil.  Kearney  massacre.  No  de- 
mand is  made  upon  him  for  the  delivery  of  the  savages 
who  butchered  and  mutilated,  too  horribly  to  mention,  the 
captives  from  that  ill-fated  garrison.  He  was  recently  in 


THE  'CROWS  AND    THE  BLACKFEET.  359 

council  with  General  Sherman,  and  demanded  and  received 
powder  and  ball  for  those  murderers  as  a  preliminary  to 
peace, — as  the  beginning  of  a  treaty.     Spotted  Tail  may 
appear  to  conclude  a  treaty;  but  where  will  be  the  Phil. 
Kearney  savages  who  have  just  been  freshly  supplied  with 
arms  and  ammunition  by  General  Sherman  ?     How  many 
severed  trunks  or  bleaching  skeletons  will  be  found  as 
mute  but  eloquent  monuments  of  this  fatal  folly  ?     Gov- 
ernor Smith,  of  this  Territory,  assured  me  a  few  days  ago 
that  three  of  the  murderers  of  Colonel  Bozeman  came  in 
and  received  their  annuities  recently  at  Fort  Benton,  and 
bore  their  gifts  straightway  to  the  hostile  camps.     Two  of 
them  were  sons  of  a  chief  who  professes  to  be  at  peace 
with  the  whites.     He  does  the  part  of  diplomacy,  while 
his  sons  and  followers  rob  and  butcher.     A  large  portion 
of  the  annuities  received  by  his  tribe  go  to  those  who  are 
on  the  war-path ;  and  he  shields  the  fraud  and  aids  the 
merciless  enemy.     Of  course  General  Smith  and  his  sub- 
ordinates did  not  know  the  Bozeman  murderers  at  the 
time ;  but  nearly  or  quite  every  Indian  present  did  know 
them,  but  all  shielded  them  from  detection  until  they  were 
safely  in  the  hostile  country.     The  Crows  profess  to  be  at 
peace.     The   Sioux  are  their  conquerors,  and  they  hate 
them/     While  they  have  no  love  for  the  whites,  they  will 
attempt  to  keep  within  the  pale  of  peace  as  long  as  the 
whites  are  at  war  with  their  enemies.     They  murdered 
Colonel  Bozeman,  and  hundreds  of  others  have  fallen  to 
glut  their  thirst  for  the  blood  of  the  whites.     The  Black- 
feet  have  committed  numerous  and  most  atrocious  murders 
in  Montana  this  season.     In  one  instance  they  butchered 
a  man  on  the  highway  to  Fort  Benton.     They,  too,  are  at 
peace ;  but  no  murderer  of  the  whites  can  be  brought  to 
justice  by  their  aid  or  with  their  approval.     Of  all  the  In- 
dians on  the  plains  the  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  are  the  no- 


360  NO  PEACE    WITH  THE  INDIAN. 

blest ;  and  the  only  chief  who  possesses  any  of  the  tradi- 
tionary chivalry  of  the  red  man  is  Red  Cloud.  The  Sioux 
and  Cheyennes  proclaim  war  :  they  confess  that  there  can 
be  no*peace  between  the  tribes  of  the  Plains  and  the  pale- 
faces, and  they  profess  what  they  practice, — war  to  the 
death.  Red  Cloud  refused  to  join  in  the  treaty  at  Laramie 
in  1866.  He  said  that  the  Indians  must  fight  successfully 
or  starve  by  submission,  for  the  whites  would  soon  destroy 
all  their  game.  He  declared  extermination  to  be  prefera- 
ble to  submission ;  and  he  brandishes  his  blade  for  a 
struggle  in  which  he  expects  to  fall,  and  thereby  reach  the 
fabled  hunting  grounds,— the  Indian's  future  resting-place. 
He  is  the  master-spirit,  the  controlling  genius,  of  the  war; 
and  while  he  lives  the  whites  will  have  an  open,  deadly 
foe. 

The  Indian,  in  his  nomadic  state,  must  henceforth  be  at 
war  with  the  white  man ;  and  one  or  the  other  must  re- 
cede. The  time  was  when  he  could  be  at  peace,  when  his 
hunting  grounds  were  not  encroached  upon  by  the  march 
of  civilization,  and  he  met  his  rivals  only  on  his  borders 
to  traffic  with  them.  Now  the  surges  of  progress  break 
upon  his  buffalo  and  deer  from  both  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific.  Railroads  are  soon  to  unite  the  East  and  the  West 
in  iron  bonds.  The  miner  and  the  ranchman  are  in  almost 
every  valley  and  gulch  of  the  mountains,  laying  the  foun- 
dations for  future  empires ;  and  the  Indian  must  conform 
to  civilization,  or  pass  away  before  the  inexorable  logic  of 
events.  He  will  not  civilize  :  must  all  civilization  there- 
fore be  arrested  in  the  heart  of  the  continent  ?  If  so,  the 
sentimentalism  of  many  Eastern  journals,  the  imbecility 
that  has  marked  our  recent  military  campaigns,  and  the 
teachings  of  the  swindling  agents,  whose  richest  profits 
are  crimsoned  with  the  blood  of  the  pioneers,  are  leading 
the  government  wisely.  If  not,  fresh  graves  will  cease  to 


THE  PIONEER    WILL  ADVANCE.  361 

ridge  the  Plains,  and  peace  will  come  only  when  such 
councils  and  counselors  are  discarded.  The  military  com- 
mander who  hopes  to  plant  the  hostile  tribes  between  the 
mountains  and  the  Missouri  in  peace  knows  nothing  of 
the  people,  resources,  or  destiny  of  the  Great  West.  The 
savage  must  leave  it,  or  die.  So  fate  has  written,  in  char- 
acters so  legible  that  "the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool," 
should  understand  them,  and  so  enduring  that  all  the 
power  of  the  government  cannot  efface  them.  Already 
the  miner  is  in  the  Wind  River,  the  Big  Horn,  the  Yel- 
lowstone, and  the  Muscleshell  ranges.  The  iron  horse 
will  soon  be  at  Cheyenne,  and  settlements  and  camps  will 
move  northward.  From  the  Upper  Missouri  the  tide  of 
empire  is  westward ;  and  a  mail-route  now  traverses  the 
northern  portion  of  Montana,  with  the  Mississippi  as  its 
starting-point.  In  less  than  another  decade,  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  will  connect  St.  Paul  with  Puget  Sound, 
and  whirl  passengers  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
thirty  hours  earlier  than  can  the  Central ;  and  the  com- 
merce of  the  ancient  empires  will  pass  through  these 
mountain-valleys  and  gorges  to  our  centres  of  trade  and 
to  Europe.  The  most  salubrious  climate  of  the  North  is 
on  this  line.  The  buffalo  migrates  northward  from  the 
Platte  to  the  genial  winters  and  succulent  grasses  of  the 
Yellowstone.  West  of  the  Rocky  range  the  Missoula 
Valley  yields  the  finest  vegetables,  fruits,  and  field-crops. 
On  its  direct  line  eastward  is  almost  a  continuous  succes- 
sion of  the  most  fruitful  valleys,  from  the  Missoula,  by 
water-grade,  to  the  Deer  Lodge  ;  thence  to  the  Big  Hole 
over  to  the  range  by  almost  imperceptible  grade;  then  to 
the  Jefferson,  which  joins  the  Gallatin  at  the  head  of  the 
Missouri;  thence  up  the  Gallatin  to  the  Yellowstone,  and 
on  \vard  to  the  eastern  tide  of  civilization  from  the  Mis- 
souri and  the  Platte.  Nor  will  the  scream  of  the  locomo- 


362  TREACHERY  OF  THE  INDIAN. 

live  be  unanswered,  as  it  annihilates  time  and  space  in  its 
westward  flight.  On  the  eastern  slope  of  the  mountains 
his  iron  track  will  be  laid,  and  the  Montana  transit  will 
fly  along  the  foot-hills  to  the  Gallatin  or  the  Prickly  Pear. 
In  this  region  are  the  most  productive  valleys,  the  finest 
pasturage,  numerous  mountain-streams,  rich  mineral  de- 
posits, and  the  best  timber  on  the  eastern  plains.  To  pos- 
sess and  improve  these  varied  sources  of  wealth,  pioneers 
are  streaming  from  the  Missouri  and  from  the  mountains. 
It  is  the  progress  of  destiny ;  and  no  interest  of  the  bar- 
barian can  arrest  it.  Our  government  should  soon  learn, 
what  every  day  has  been  teaching  with  increased  emphasis 
each  year,  that,  with  or  without  its  aid,  the  settler  will 
reap  golden  harvests  in  that  region,  and  pass  over  the 
graves  of  his  fallen  but  ever-avenged  comrades,  until  he 
adds  fresh  stars  to  the  galaxy  of  States.  He  will  not 
found  empire  upon  wrong.  It  will  be  the  well-earned  tri- 
umph over  wrong,  over  unyielding  barbarism  and  studied 
atrocity.  The  Indian  has  become  the  foe  of  peace,  the  foe 
of  humanity,  the  foe  of  civilization.  He  might  have  abided 
with  and  acquired  all  with  profit,  and  preserved  his  race 
indefinitely;  but  every  effort  to  better  his  condition  has 
been  responded  to  with  savage  treachery  and  with  defi- 
ance of  all  the  instincts  of  chivalry  and  mercy.  His  chief 
ambition  is  not  merely  to  murder  alike  innocent  and  guilty, 
friend  and  foe,  but  he  is  master  of  the  most  exquisite  tor- 
tures to  practice  upon  his  victims.  He  dooms  his  female 
captives  to  wrongs  so  cruel  that  language  is  beggared  to 
portray  them ;  and  his  proudest  trophies  are  the  silken 
tresses  of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  pale-faces. 
With  them  his  dusky  bride  is  ever  wooed  triumphantly. 
I  do  not  delineate  isolated  characters  among  the  sons 
of  the  forest,  upon  whom  the  blissfully  ignorant  muse  has 
wasted  so  much  sweetness.  All  are  cruel,  barbarous, 


AGENCIES  SHOULD  BE  ABOLISHED.  363 

treacherous,  thriftless,  —  at  war  with  every  principle  of 
enlightened  progress  and  every  advance  of  Christian 
civilization. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  assuming  that  extermination  is 
the  only  remedy.  The  government,  by  its  persistent  folly, 
may  make  that  the  only  remedy,  by  making  it  the  only 
safety  of  the  settlers  ;  but  it  should  not  be  so.  If  Sherman 
commands  on  the  Plains,  calls  councils  to  threaten  the 
savages  in  words  they  well  know  to  be  meaningless,  and 
closes  with  the  distribution  of  powder  and  ball,  extermina- 
tion will  come.  The  army  will  not  accomplish  it  by  deeds 
of  valor,  but  will  be  the  chief  agency  in  making  it  imper- 
ative. If  the  festering  sores,  in  the  shape  of  Indian  agents, 
which  are  polluting  both  the  savages  and  every  channel  of 
power  within  their  reach,  are  permitted  to  remain,  exter- 
mination is  inevitable.  But  if  a  wise,  honest  policy  is 
adopted  and  firmly  maintained,  the  Indian  will  live  and 
the  white  man  will  have  peace.  To  effect  this,  there  must 
be  radical  changes. 

First.  The  whole  system  of  Indian  agencies  must  be 
swept  away.  With  one  accord  they  espouse  the  cause  of 
the  savage  to  plunder  him.  They  are,  as  a  class,  pestifer- 
ous thieves  and  heartless  falsifiers,  and  are  justly  respon- 
sible for  half  the  graves  which  dot  the  Plains.  They  violate 
the  faith  of  the  government  to  increase  their  peculations, 
and  encourage  war  to  plunder  both  camps.  They  know 
that  Indian  wars,  so  far,  have  been  but  appalling  murders 
on  the  part  of  the  savages,  resulting  in  increased  annuities 
for  them  to  steal.  They  are  the  great  curse  of  the  West, 
and  have  become  a  blistering  stain  upon  our  national  repu- 
tation. 

Second.  The  government  should  cease  to  propose  coun- 
cils  or  treaties  with  the  Indians  of  the  Plains.  They  are 
common  enemies,  and  have  forfeited  all  rights  by  their 


364  TREATIES  SHOULD    CEASE. 

proverbial  inhumanity.  They  believe  that  the  govern- 
ment fears  them,  and  they  have  no  respect  for  treaty  obli- 
gations. They  meet  generals,  but  feel  not  their  swords. 
They  see  armies  marshaled  against  them  in  grand  array, 
but  they  evade  them  until  they  can  be  murdered  in  detail. 
They  violate  treaties  whenever  want  or  revenge  demands 
it,  and  have  thus  far,  in  this  war,  been  well  paid  for  every 
fresh  atrocity.  Why,  therefore,  should  they  observe  faith  ? 
Why  should  they  respect  and  fear  the  government  ?  For 
each  Indian  that  has  fallen  they  have  scalped  ten  of  Sher- 
man's warriors,  and  a  score  of  emigrants  and  settlers  be- 
sides. The  government  can  have  peace  only  by  determin- 
ing on  its  policy  and  then  firmly  enforcing  it  with  liberality 
and  humanity,  as  becomes  a  great  government.  It  must  re- 
gard them  as  subject  to  its  will,  and  not  as  a  treaty-making 
power;  for  the  Indian  is  a  barbarian,  and  a  stranger  to  the 
responsibilities  imposed  by  treaties.  The  government  must 
determine,  not  propose,  the  solution  of  this  vexed  ques- 
tion, whose  history  is  so  fearfully  stained  with  innocent 
blood.  The  Indians  should  be  told  that  they  must  sur- 
render the  Plains,  and  remove  south,  to  a  genial  climate, 
where  cattle  and  corn  can  be  raised  in  the  midst  of  their 
idleness.  They  should  be  sent  where  civilization  will  not 
encroach  upon  them,  and  there  let  them  be  the  recipients 
of  any  measure  of  governmental  beneficence.  No  councils 
should  be  held  with  them,  except  to  notify  them  of  the  pur- 
pose of  the  government  and  the  period  allowed  for  their 
removal.  Let  them  understand  that  refusal  will  be  war, 
and  war  in  their  own  way,  until  there  is  submission.  What 
I  mean  by  war  in  their  own  way  is  not  a  premium  for 
"  scalps  with  the  ears  on,"  but  that  every  violation  of  hu- 
mane warfare  shall  be  fearfully  atoned  for  by  any  of  the 
guilty  tribe  that  may  be  captured,  and  that  Western  troops 
shall  be  their  foes  in  battle.  The  Indian  will  then  obey, 


WESTERN  TROOPS  SHOULD   BE  PREFERRED.     365 

and  will  live  until  his  natural  debaucheries  obliterate  this 
blot  upon  mankind. 

Third.  Send  competent  military  men,  who  have  some 
sympathy  with  the  struggling  pioneers  of  civilization,  to 
enforce  the  policy  of  the  government.  Send  General  Phil. 
Sheridan,  General  Conner,  and  General  Harney  to  declare 
to  the  Indians  the  purposes  of  the  government,  and  they 
will  understand  what  it  means.  They  will  be  treated  hu- 
manely, and,  as  a  rule,  will  go  in  peace.  When  they  are 
fixed  upon  their  reservations,  let  the  Indian  Bureau  be 
transferred  to  the  War  Department,  and  there  will  be 
direct  responsibility  and  justice  to  all. 

Fourth.  If  any  Indians  refuse  to  leave  the  Plains,  do 
not  repeat  the  costly  and  bloody  farce  of  sending  regular 
troops  to  enforce  obedience.  After  a  generous  policy  has 
been  proffered  them,  let  each  Western  State  or  Territory 
be  authorized  to  raise  the  number  of  troops  necessary  to 
clear  the  savages  from  its  borders.  The  cost  will  not 
be  one  dollar  for  ten  required  to  perform  the  same  task 
with  the  regular  army.  The  Indians  will  not  wait  for  the 
advent  of  the  mountain-troops :  they  will  go ;  for  their 
choice  will  be  to  go  or  die.  There  will  be  no  Sherman 
pow-wows;  no  silly  pleadings;  no  idle  threats;  no  distri- 
bution of  ammunition  to  conciliate  them.  It  will  be  war 
from  the  start,  and  war  in  earnest, — -just  what  the  Indians 
cannot  endure.  For  every  act  of  inhumanity  to  a  prisoner 
there  will  be  terrible  retribution.  Less  than  four  hundred 
Montana  volunteers  protected  the  whole  eastern  border  of 
the  settlements  last  summer.  The  Gallatin  Valley  is  the 
most  fruitful  in  Montana,  and  it  swarms  with  the  finest 
stock.  It  is  but  a  few  miles  from  the  hostile  country, 
separated  by  a  low  mountain-range,  through  which  there 
are  many  passes ;  but  the  settlers  were  safe,  for  no  hostile 
Indian  could  enter  the  valley  and  hope  to  escape  with  his 

32 


366  THE  BOZEMAN  ROUTE. 

life.  Nor  did  the  duties  of  these  volunteers  end  with  pro- 
tecting one  hundred  miles  of  exposed  borders.  Fort  Smith, 
with  its  garrison  of  nearly  two  hundred  men,  was  besieged 
by  the  savages.  Captain  De  Lacy,  with  forty-five  mount- 
ain-volunteers, marched  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through 
the  hostile  country  with  a  train  for  the  relief  of  the  fort. 
The  savages  could  not  surprise  him,  they  dared  not  fight 
him,  and  they  allowed  him  to  go  and  return  in  peace.  The 
Indian  wants  no  war  with  the  mountain-volunteers,  each 
of  whom  has  some  murdered  comrade  to  avenge. 

The  proposed  surrender  of  the  Bozeman  or  Powder  River 
route  as  an  Indian  reservation  would  be  a  stupendous 
folly :  worse — it  would  be  a  crime.  Those  who  have  ad- 
vised its  abandonment  either  want  a  war  of  extermination 
or  know  nothing  of  the  value  of  the  route.  Those  who  say 
it  is  not  needed  have  studied  the  West  to  little  purpose,  or 
belong  to  the  white  vampires  of  the  Plains.  It  is  the 
natural  route  to  Montana,  and  the  only  practicable  route 
overland.  By  it  Montana  is  reached  without  crossing  the 
Rocky  range  ;  by  the  other  overland  routes  south  the 
mountains  must  be  crossed  twice.  It  traverses  the  eastern 
base  of  the  mountains,  has  fine  streams  and  pasturage,  and 
is  the  only  route  that  has  those  priceless  advantages.  It 
will  not  only  be  the  great  highway  between  Montana  and 
tlie  East,  but  it  must  soon  have  a  profitable  railroad  to 
connect  the  rich  valleys  and  mines  of  this  Territory  with 
the  western  centres  of  trade.  Its  bountiful  crops,  precious 
metals,  and  genial  climate  will  soon  make  continuous  set- 
tlements from  the  Gallatin  until  the  waves  of  progress 
from  East  to  West  join  in  the  mountain-valleys.  No  tribe 
can  justly  claim  it.  It  was  stolen  by  the  Crows,  and  they 
in  turn  were  despoiled  by  the  Sioux.  To  whom  should  it 
be  given  as  a  reservation  ?  No  tribe  now  in  existence 
could  get  other  than  the  thief's  title  to  it,  or  claim  it  on  any 


MANIFEST  DESTINY.  367 

higher  right.  No  savage  now  owns  it;  and  it  is  not  only 
absurd,  it  is  simply  impossible,  to  surrender  it  to  the  sav- 
age merely  because  he  is  a  savage.  The  pioneers  of  the 
West  will  open  this  route,  will  keep  it  open,  will  settle  on 
it,  will  work  its  mines  and  reap  its  harvests,  whether  the 
government  abandons  it  or  not.  It  is  now  just  enough 
under  military  control  to  prevent  settlers  from  protecting 
themselves.  The  mere  abandonment  of  the  forts  and  route 
by  the  national  authorities  would  be  of  little  consequence  ; 
but  the  effort  to  surrender  it  to  the  Indians  by  treaty  and 
exclude  the  whites  from  it,  as  has  been  proposed,  would 
be  a  foolish  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  do 
an  impossible  thing.  If  the  government  can  do  no  more 
for  the  people  of  Montana,  let  it  withdraw  from  the  con- 
test for  supremacy  on  the  Plains,  and  there  will  be  early 
and  enduring  peace ;  for  it  will  be  the  peace  of  death  to  the 
savage.  One  or  the  other  race  must  reign  here ;  both  can- 
not. Which  it  will  be,  requires  no  prophetic  pen  to  deter- 
mine. After  all  our  weak  and  costly  diplomacy,  the  in- 
evitable end  will  be  reached,  and  the  nomadic  tribes  will 
fade  away,  either  through  war  or  through  peace,  and  leave 
their  hunting  grounds  to  make  golden  fields  for  their  pale- 
faced  rivals. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

The  German  Evangeline. — Romantic  Story  of  a  Daughter  of  the 
Ehine. — She  finds  her  Faithful  Lover  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
— A  Visit  to  their  Cosy  Cabin.  — Union  City  deserted. — "Wait- 
ing for  News  from  the  Prize-Fight. — Hope  deferred. — The 
Donkey  Express  brings  the  News. — Indignation  of  the  Bearer 
of  Dispatches  from  the  Seat  of  War. — Con.  Orem  defeated  in 
the  Mill. — Tim's  Account  of  the  Bruise. — Business  is  Busi- 
ness in  Montana. — Advertisements.— The  Chinese  in  Montana. 
— Peonage  among  them. — Their  Women  mere  Articles  of  Com- 
merce.— The  Chinese  Dead. — All  sent  Home  for  Final  Burial. 
— A  Suspicious  Box  received  from  Mormondom. — A  Present 
of  Delicious  Grapes. — Bruin  visits  Union  City.— A  Fruitless 
Chase.— A  Plentiful  Winter. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  October  28,  1867. 
You  may  have  read  the  story  of  a  second  Evangeline, 
that  went  the  rounds  of  the  papers  last  summer,  telling 
how  a  devoted  German  beauty  came,  unattended,  from 
her  far-off  European  home  to  find  her  devoted  lover  in  the 
mountain-fastnesses  of  Montana.  I  have  seen  it  copied 
into  a  dozen  Eastern  journals  to  show  how  romance  pales 
before  the  stranger  truths  of  history  in  the  Far  West.  It 
told  how  the  "  try  sting-place"  of  the  lovers  was  near  to 
"  Bingen  on  the  Rhine ;"  how  the  ambitious  Teuton  gave 
a  sad  embrace  and  a  long  farewell  to  his  affianced,  as  he 
crossed  the  trackless  ocean  and  traversed  the  plains  and 
bluffs  of  the  new  continent  in  search  of  the  fabled  wealth 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  how  he  sighed  for  his  fair 
(368) 


UNION  CITY  DESERTED.  369 

partner  as  the  melancholy  whispers  of  the  pines  tuned 
his  heart  to  sadness.  Three  long,  dismal  winters  whit- 
ened the  valleys,  silvered  the  mountain-peaks,  and  sang 
their  hoarse  melodies  around  the  cliffs  of  Montana,  be- 
fore the  faithful  lovers  could  again  clasp  each  other  in 
their  arms.  But  German  love  was  proof  against  the 
assaults  of  time  and  the  fretful  anxieties  of  distance. 
Last  spring  the  daughter  of  the  Rhine  started  on  her 
weary  journey,  without  companionship.  Patiently  and 
hopefully  she  crossed  the  Atlantic,  swept  westward  to 
the  Father  of  Waters,  thence  threaded  more  than  three 
thousand  miles  of  the  angry  flood  of  the  Missouri,  and  at 
last  met  her  faithful  bridegroom  in  Helena,  where  the 
twain  were  made  one.  The  story  ends  in  a  neat  little 
white-washed  cabin,  close  under  the  grim  shadows  of 
"  Old  Baldy,"  not  two  miles  distant,  where  I  have  vis- 
ited Lewis  Vogel  and  his  happy  bride  in  their  mount- 
ain-home. He  is  superintendent  of  the  Lucas  Mining- 
Company,  and  is  a  highly-educated  and  accomplished 
gentleman. 

The  quiet,  sober  ways  of  Union  City  were  sadly  broken 
up  on  Friday  last.  It  was  the  day  of  the  prize-fight  near 
Virginia,  in  which  my  particular  friend  Con.  Orem  and 
Jim  Dwyer  were  the  heroes  of  the  "  mill."  What  is  here 
called  the  lingering  prejudices  of  early  education  prevented 
me  from  witnessing  the  outpouring  of  the  "  roughs"  and 
"  sports"  of  Montana.  I  had  declined  the  honor  of  calling 
the  time  and  deciding  -the  complicated  questions  of  the 
ring  for  the  combatants,  and  had  almost  forgotten  all 
about  it  until  Friday  morning  left  me  deserted.  The  mines 
were  empty,  the  teams  were  not  visible  winding  around 
the  hills,  and  only  here  and  there  was  to  be  seen  a  discon- 
solate son  of  the  mountains.  They  had  taken  "  French 

32* 


310         FIRST  NEWS  FROM  THE  PRIZE-FIGHT. 

leave"  as  the  surest  way  of  getting  off,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  "  Tim,"  the  jolly  Irish  miner,  whose  face  ever 
flashes  sunbeams  of  genuine  Irish  wit  to  break  the  mo- 
notony of  mountain-life.  He  would  miss  a  meal  any  time 
to  oblige  a  friend ;  but  to  ask  "  Tim"  to  miss  a  fight  would 
be  "  sorrow's  crown  of  sorrow."  The  fight  was  to  come 
off  at  noon,  and  the  delegation  was  expected  to  return 
early  in  the  evening.  Lincoln  Avenue,  the  Broadway  of 
Union  City,  was  brilliant  until  late  bedtime,  as  the 
"  batches"  sat  about  their  cheerful  pine-fires  awaiting  news 
from  the  champions  of  the  manly  art.  But  the  long,  lin- 
gering twilight  at  last  withdrew  its  mellow  beauties  from 
the  track  of  the  fugitive  sun,  and  midnight  came  without 
tidings  from  the  seat  of  war.  One  of  our  restless  Penn- 
sylvania boys,  who  must  either  have  a  share  of  every  fight 
or  a  side  bet  on  the  result,  finally  got  twenty-five  dollars 
staked  on  his  favorite  bruiser,  and  then  turned  in  for  a 
sleepless  night.  On  Saturday  the  Donkey  Express,  run 
by  the  hero  of  the  knife  and  cleaver,  brought  us  our  usual 
supply  of  steaks,  roasts,  and  pudding;  and  with  it  came  the 
first  news  of  the  "mill"  from  the  still  exasperated  driver. 
He  had  been  to  see  the  fight ;  and,  with  a  degree  of  dis- 
gust that  fearfully  taxed  his  powers  of  malediction,  he 
denounced  the  whole  affair  as  a  stupendous  "bilk," — a 
mere  swindle  to  get  winter's  grub.  "  Fought  two  hours,'' 
said  he,  as  he  nervously  licked  his  pencil-point  to  make 
his  pass-book  entries  legible,  and  fairly  hissed  his  scorn, 
"and  nobody  hurt!  Con.'s  eye  swollen,  his  nose  knocked 
in  a  little,  and  his  lip  cut — that's  all ;  and  Dwyer  hadn't  a 
bit  of  blood  about  him."  He  had  paid  five  dollars  to  see 
the  affair,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  swindled  because  no  eyes 
had  been  gouged  out,  or  that  nobody  had  been  killed.  With 
steadily  increasing  indignation,  he  crammed  his  book  into 
his  hat,  and  whirled  his  lash  about  his  donkeys  with  vicious 


»  BUSINESS  IS  BUSINESS"   IN  MONTANA.       371 

energy,  because  he  had  been  denied  his  expected  flow  of 
blood  at  the  prize-fight.  After  forty  rounds  had  been  fought, 
the  "mill"  was  adjourned  by  the  sheriff  of  the  county, 
who  acted  as  referee,  until  nine  o'clock  on  Saturday  morn- 
ing, and  "  Tim"  and  his  disciples  had  to  see  it  out.  They 
returned  sadly  disjointed  in  spirits  and  by  spirits,  and 
brought  the  intelligence  that  Con.  could  not  come  to  time 
in  the  morning,  and  Dwyer  carried  off  the  belt.  Most  of 
them  pronounced  the  whole  thing  a  swindle  ;  and,  in  order 
not  to  be  entirely  disappointed,  they  had,  under  the  inspi- 
ration of  Montana  strychnine,  improvised  sundry  "  mills" 
on  private  account.  But  for  that,  "  Tim"  would  have  re- 
turned broken-hearted.  His  description  of  the  fight  was 
less  lucid  than  original ;  but  Dwyer  was  an  old  chum,  and 
"  Tim"  was  proud  of  the  victory.  I  think  it  probable 
that  there  was  some  collusion  between  the  combatants,  as 
the  bets  were  much  the  heaviest  in  favor  of  Con.,  and  he 
was  not  visibly  disabled  the  first  day.  The  sale  of  tickets 
of  admission  realized  over  four  thousand  dollars ;  and 
probably  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  staked  on  the  fight. 
"Heaven's  last  best  gift  to  man"  was  represented  in  the 
crowd,  inside  of  the  inclosure;  and  "Hit  him  in  the  eye, 
Jimmy,"  and  "  Peg  him  on  the  kisser,"  were  the  words  of 
cheer  the  fair  ones  gave  to  Dwyer  as  he  sparred  with  his 
antagonist. 

"  Business  is  business"  in  Montana.  They  have  original 
ways  in  everything.  Graves  are  as  much  an  article  of 
merchandise  as  brooms,  picks,  and  calico.  I  notice  in  one 
Montana  paper  that  "ready-made  coffins  and  saw-bucks" 
can  be  had  at  O'Xeill's ;  and  Courtwaite  has  "ready-made 
graves"  for  the  miners  of  Deer  Lodge.  "  Wilson's  Kiyuse 
Cocktails"  are  declared  "a  sure  thing  for  the  blues."  Stray 
wives  figure  almost  as  often  in  the  advertisements  as  stray 
cattle ;  and  summons  in  divorce  are  about  as  numerous  as 


372  THE   CHINESE  IN  MONTANA. 

the  notices  of  hymeneal  knots.  The  last  two  legislatures 
of  the  Territory  devoted  most  of  their  deliberations  to  the 
passage  of  divorce-bills.  Many  of  the  divorced  parties 
married  again;  and  Congress  laid  its  mailed  hand  upon 
the  territorial  statutes  and  swept  them  from  existence  by 
a  single  section.  The  result  is  that  we  have  numerous 
wives  with  duplicate  husbands,  and  husbands  with  dupli- 
cate wives;  but  such  little  irregularities  do  not  ruffle  so- 
ciety out  here,  where  the  air  is  so  thin.  "  Business  is 
business,"  whether  in  matrimony,  a  prize-fight,  a  horse- 
race, a  vigilance-swing,  or  a  Sunday  auction. 

One  of  the  social  curiosities  of  this  region  is  the  Chi- 
nese population.  There  are  one  hundred  or  more  of  them 
in  and  about  Virginia,  and  twice  as  many  in  Helena.  They 
gather  in  the  mining-camps  and  devote  their  energies  to 
working  abandoned  claims  and  washing  for  the  miners. 
They  are  all  from  Chinese  Tartary,  and  are  mostly  peons, 
or  practically  slaves  to  the  Chinese  overseer  who  repre- 
sents the  company  that  sent  them  abroad.  Each  colony 
has  an  overseer  or  superintendent,  and  to  him  they  all  re- 
port their  operations,  and  deposit  with  him  a  certain  por- 
tion, or  the  whole,  of  their  earnings.  They  are,  as  a  rule, 
industrious  and  inoffensive.  Some  of  them  are  addicted 
to  intemperance,  and  all  love  games  of  chance ;  but,  upon 
the  whole,  they  are  economical,  and  save  money  every  week. 
The  Chinese  women  in  the  Territory  are  all  owned  by 
Chinamen;  and  they  are  sold  or  bartered  like  any  mer- 
chantable commodity.  Some  are  utterly  abandoned;  and 
all  are  strangers  to  virtue.  The  Chinese  bring  with  them, 
and  sacredly  maintain,  all  their  religious  superstitions. 
Every  Chinaman  and  Chinawoman  must  be  finally  buried 
in  the  Celestial  Empire;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  master  of 
the  colony  to  see  that  all  have  the  rites  of  sepulture  in  their 
own  flowery  kingdom,  without  which  they  believe  that 


A    SUSPICIOUS  BOX  RECEIVED.  373 

none  can- be  happy  hereafter.  The  few  Chinese  buried 
here  during  the  last  summer  have  recently  been  exhumed, 
and  are  now  on  their  way  to  their  chosen  resting-place 
They  do  not  allow  the  dead  to  be  entombed  without  a 
bountiful  supply  of  the  good  things  of  life.  With  the  body 
they  deposit,  with  necessary  dishes,  spoons  and  knives 
and  forks,  pork,  rice,  sugar,  sweetmeats,  candles,  money, 
and  everything  needful  for  a  pleasant  journey;  and  the 
clothing  and  furniture  of  the  deceased  are  destroyed  in  a 
bonfire.  When  the  body  is  removed  from  the  temporary 
grave,  slips  of  paper,  with  Chinese  hieroglyphics  written 
on  them,  are  strewn  along  the  way,  to  guide  the  wander- 
ing spirit  to  the  last  abode  of  its  mortal  tenement,  so  that 
no  confusion  may  occur  when  mortality  and  immortality 
are  to  be  again  united.  The  popular  prejudice  against 
them  is  very  strong,  and  they  are  compelled  to  subordi- 
nate themselves  in  all  respects  to  the  interests  of  the 
mining  population.  They  are  not  allowed  to  work  placer- 
diggings  until  the  whites  desert  them ;  and  then  they  must 
avoid  all  disputes  with  the  ruling  race,  or  they  will  be 
"cleaned  out  to  bed-rock." 

I  incline  just  now  to  think  better  of  the  Mormons  than 
I  did.  I  have  for  some  weeks  been  reading  in  the  Eastern 
papers  the  notices  of  delicious  strawberries,  grapes,  pears, 
and  apples,  until  vexation  made  me  hurriedly  skip  all  such 
paragraphs.  A  few  days  ago  the  teamster  dumped  a  large 
box  into  the  office,  marked  as  expressed  from  Salt  Lake, 
but  without  anything  on  the  outside  to  indicate  its  con- 
tents or  value.  I  at  first  thought  that  Brother  Brigham 
bad  been  preserving  my  letters  and  concluded  to  acknowl- 
edge the  favor  by  an  infernal  machine.  A  short  council 
was  held  over  the  suspicious  stranger ;  and  finally  one  of 
the  boys  concluded  to  "  go  for  it  anyhow."  The  top  came 
off  without  any  explosion  or  sulphurous  fumes,  and,  when 


374  BRUIN   VISITS    UNION  CITY. 

he  withdrew  his  arm,  a  large  cluster  of  elegant  grapes  was 
suspended  from  his  "  bunch  of  fives."  It  was  the  first  ad- 
vent of  a  box  of  grapes  into  Union  City ;  and,  as  there 
were  fifty  pounds  in  the  cargo,  the  evening  was  devoted  to 
luxury.  A  kind  friend,  with  whom  I  had  taken  various 
dishes  of  luscious  strawberries  when  in  Salt  Lake  last 
spring,  had  thought  of  me  generously  as  he  was  reveling 
in  the  rich  offerings  of  the  Mormon  vines ;  and  he  sent 
the  box  four  hundred  miles  by  stage  to  mingle  the  luxuries 
of  civilization  with  the  sterile  cliffs  of  the  Rocky  range. 
Although  the  welcome  gift  did  not  come  from  one  of  the 
Mormon  faith,  I  could  not  but  thank  Mormon  industry 
and  thrift  for  the  matchless  fruits  they  now  gather  where 
once  was  the  Great  Desert  of  the  Plains. 

Master  Bruin  visited  us  last  week,  but  did  not  tarry 
long.  He  came  over  the  steep  bluff  close  by,  viewed  the 
encroachments  of  his  enemy  upon  his  favorite  retreats,  and 
then  trotted  off  in  disgust.  Scarcely  had  he  appeared  upon 
the  hill,  when  a  rifle  came  from  every  cabin,  and  a  dozen 
well-armed  men  were  after  him.  He  had  the  advantage, 
however,  as  he  was  on  the  summit  of  the  cliff,  while  his 
pursuers  had  to  climb  nearly  one  thousand  feet ;  and  he 
was  selfish  enough  to  run  away  all  alone,  when  he  could 
have  had  plenty  of  company  and  a  spirited  fight.  But, 
like  General  Sherman,  he  did  not  choose  to  have  war ;  and 
he  hied  to  the  willows  of  the  Madison.  We  had  visions  of 
bear-steaks,  bear-roasts,  bear  baked,  bear  fried,  bear  stewed, 
and  bear  with  hominy ;  but  his  bearship  had  visions  of 
another  winter  snooze,  and  went  his  way.  The  cinnamon 
and  grizzly  bear  are  numerous  here,  and  very  savage.  No 
single  hunter  is  safe  in  encountering  one,  unless  he  can 
break  the  fore-shoulder  at  the  first  fire,  or  escape  up  a  tree. 
As  I  have  not  lost  any  bears,  I'll  not  hunt  them.  Bear- 
meat,  with  elk,  moose,  deer,  antelope,  mountain-sheep,  and 


A   PLENTIFUL    WINTER. 

grouse,  are  now  abundant  in  the  city  markets  at  reasonable 
prices.  In  a  month  more,  game  will  sell  cheaper  than  beef, 
as  most  persons  soon  weary  of  it.  The  Territory  has  this 
year  produced  enormous  crops  of  potatoes,  cabbages,  tur- 
nips, and  onions,  and  quite  enough  beef  and  flour  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  population ;  and  the  miners  will  enjoy  a 
plentiful  winter. 


LETTER    XL. 

Meeting  with  Colonel  Beidler. — His  Appearance  and  Dress. — How 
he  employs  his  Time. — The  Terror  of  Desperadoes  and  Savages. 
— His  Complaint  that  Business  is  dull. — Local  Reports  of  his 
Doings. —  The  Montana  Legislature. — The  only  Republican 
Member  ejected. —  Supremacy  of  the  Positive  Rebel  Element 
in  Montana. — What  the  Legislature  will  do. — Montana  Win- 
ters.— The  Storm-King  reigns. — The  Clouds  a  Protection  to  the 
Eyes. — Freezing  insensibly. — The  Effect  of  Dry,  Cold  Weather. 
— Health  of  the  Residents. — The  Mountains  to  become  a  Great 
Resort  for  Invalids. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  November  9,  1867. 
I  HAD  the  pleasure  recently  of  taking  Colonel  John  X. 
Beidler  by  the  hand;  and  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  greet- 
ing was  mutually  cordial.  I  had  not  seen  him  for  twelve 
years,  when  he  was  known  to  the  people  of  Chambersburg 
as  an  excellent  maker  of  brooms,  cocktails,  and  juleps,  and 
a  fellow  of  infinite  jest.  He  has  grown  stouter,  but  not 
any  taller,  since  he  has  been  living  in  the  mountains ;  and 
he  still  carries  the  old  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye  that  made 
his  face  beam  with  good  humor  when  he  was  among  us  in 
the  "  Green  Spot."  Time  has  not  entirely  spared  him,  and 
his  still  youthful  face  has  its  furrows,  and  his  locks  are 
sprinkled  with  silver ;  but  he  is  as  active  and  jolly  as  ever, 
and  pursues  the  ceaseless,  restless  tenor  of  his  way  from 
one  end  of  the  Territory  to  the  other.  A  white  slouch  hat 
with  an  immense  brim ;  loose  frock-coat  with  ponderous 
pockets ;  pants  and  vest  of  the  same  cloth,  loosely  cut ; 
high-topped  boots;  the  inevitable  woolen  shirt;  a  brace  of 
(376) 


COLONEL  BE  IDLER'S  APPEARANCE,  377 

faithful  pistols  in  his  belt,  and  a  huge  "  Arkansas  tooth- 
pick," or  bowie-knife,  in  a  leather  sheath,  compose  the 
"  outfit"  of  this  mysterious  and  almost  ubiquitous  person- 
age. He  is  always  in  a  hurry ;  never  stops  to  talk,  un- 
less it  is  "  business,"  or  to  pay  a  hasty  tribute  to  valued 
friendship  ;  and  whence  he  comes  or  whither  he  goes  but 
few  know.  He  is  the  great  detective  Of  the  mountain- 
regions  ;  works  up  every  important  theft,  runs  down  every 
murderer;  pursues  every  criminal  who  flees  to  escape  jus- 
tice ;  "  spots"  wrong-doers  often  before  they  mature  their 
villainy,  and  disperses  their  bands ;  takes  a  turn  at  the 
Indians  occasionally,  usually  at  the  cost  of  savage  scalps ; 
runs  the  militia  when  in  the  field ;  and  can  tell  of  every 
den  of  iniquity  in  the  Territory,  name  its  occupants,  and 
sum  up  the  record  of  their  previous  crimes.  When  im- 
portant trains  are  to  be  guarded,  he  is  called  to  the  task ; 
and  his  presence  with  a  picked  command  has  always  pre- 
vented attack.  Two  years  ago  he  escorted  a  train  with 
two  millions  of  gold  over  the  Bozeinan  route,  and  the 
same  season  he  guarded  a  train  that  carried  a  ton  of  gold 
from  Confederate  Gulch  to  Fort  Benton. 

We  had  a  long  talk  over  old  times  and  old  friends,  and 
then  he  hurried  off  on  his  favorite  mission.  He  had  spurred 
his  "  kiyuse"  from  Helena  to  Virginia — a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  over  the  steep  mountain-ranges — 
in  fifteen  hours,  and  was  ready  to  go  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  more  in  less  time,  if  necessary.  To  speak  of  him  here 
as  Colonel  Beidler,  or  Mr.  Beidler,  would  make  Montana 
people  stare,  and  most  likely  provoke  the  inquiry,  "Is  he 
any  relation  of  X?"  When  "X"  is  spoken  of,  every  one 
at  once 'understands  who  is  meant.  He  has  no  other  name 
here,  unless  in  official  documents  as  United  States  Collec- 
tor of  the  Port  of  Helena,  Deputy  United  States  Marshal, 
or  colonel  of  the  militia.  When  he  "goes  for"  a  desperado, 

33 


378  REPORTS  OF  BEIDLERS  DOINGS. 

he  generally  takes  him  "without  papers,"  as  he  terms  it ; 
and  when  he  commands,  no  one  has  yet  been  reckless 
enough  to  question  his  authority  or  dispute  his  power.  He 
has  hung  some  thirty  of  the  most  lawless  men  the  conti- 
nent could  produce,  and  has  arrested  hundreds,  often  in 
distant  regions  and  without  assistance,  and  has  never  been 
repulsed.  Many  have  tried  to  "  get  the  drop  on  him ;" 
but  in  vain.  Quick  as  the  lightning's  flash  his  pistol  is 
drawn  and  cocked,  and  a  movement  looking  to  resistance 
is  death.  As  an  expert  in  the  use  of  the  pistol,  he  has  no 
rival  since  the  notorious  Plummer  was  executed  by  his 
hands.  He  is  evidently  in  love  with  his  exciting  life,  and 
already  complains  that  Montana  is  "dull"  in  his  line.  He 
despises  petty  law-breakers,  and  bags  a  murderer  or  a  first- 
class  wholesale  thief  with  the  satisfaction  of  a  practiced 
sportsman  bagging  his  favorite  game.  But  he  still  has 
enough  to  do  to  satisfy  any  ordinary  ambition ;  for  not  a 
week  passes  without  his  name  figuring  in  the  reports  of 
justice.  A  Helena  paper  of  a  recent  date  has  the  follow- 
ing notices  of  him,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  how 
"dull"  his  business  is: 

"  CAN'T  TELL. — Certain  facts  in  our  possession,  very 
suggestive  of  the  Hangman's  Tree  and  hemp,  we  are  not 
permitted  to  speak  of  at  present.  We  saw  'X'  pull  a  man 
off  his  horse  the  other  day,  and — that's  all !" 

There  was  doubtless  a  short  shrift  and  a  hasty  funeral 
without  cards.  Again : 

"  MORE  BOGUS. — Joe  Logan  was  arrested  a  week  ago 
by  'X,'  for  manufacturing  bogus  gold  dust.  He  was  yes- 
terday turned  over  to  the  Territorial  authorities." 

And  again : 

"  ESCAPED. — A  candidate  for  hempen  honors  escaped  last 
night  at  twelve  o'clock.  'X'  is  in  the  saddle." 

"X"  returned  ;  but  no  one  has  taken  the  trouble  to  in- 


THE  MONTANA   LEGISLATURE.  3Y9 

quire  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  "candidate  for  hempen 
honors."  He  may  be  living ;  but,  if  so,  he  is  out  of  the  juris- 
diction of  the  unseen  tribunal  whose  death-sentence  is  often 
carried  by  "  X"  and  relentlessly  executed  where  none 
but  the  Great  Judge  is  witness.  It  is  never  done  without 
trial  and  condemnation ;  but  of  that  trial  and  terrible  judg- 
ment the  desperado  seldom  knows  until  his  doom  is  pro- 
nounced by  him  who  executes  its  mandates.  The  fore- 
going items  are  from  a  single  number  of  the  Helena  Tri- 
Weekly  " Herald;"  and  he  appears  in  like  manner  in  almost 
every  issue  when  he  is  not  absent  on  "  business."  He  has 
acquired  a  clever  competence,  and  is  more  universally  es- 
teemed by  good  citizens  than  any  other  resident  of  the  Ter- 
ritory. Like  nearly  every  one  in  the  mountains,  he  talks 
of  "  going  home"  every  spring  and  fall ;  but,  like  many 
others  who  settled  here  with  the  first  tide,  he  will  be  more 
likely  to  land  in  Walrussia  than  in  the  States.  I  pre- 
sume that  he  would  hardly  toss  a  copper  between  solitary 
confinement  and  transportation  to  Pennsylvania.  He  is 
still  unmarried,  and  his  home  is  anywhere  under  the 
shelter  of  the  deep,  blue-vaulted  dome  that  encircles  the 
mountains. 

The  Montana  legislature  met  last  week.  The  Senate — or 
Council,  as  it  is  called — consists  of  seven,  and  the  House 
of  thirteen  members.  This  county  (Madison)  elected  the 
lone-star  Republican  legislator  chosen  in  the  entire  Terri- 
tory ;  and  he  was  ruled  out.  His  majority  was  not  dis- 
puted ;  but  they  decided  that  they  did  not  need  him,  and 
vacated  his  place.  Both  branches  are,  therefore,  unani- 
mously Democratic,  as  they  call  it  East;  but  the  name  is 
not  in  favor  with  most  of  its  adherents  here.  They  would 
much  prefer  to  rally  under  the  name  "  Confederate,"  and 
unfurl  the  flag  that  would  truly  symbolize  their  princi- 
ples, but  for  the  weak  prejudices  of  their  party  friends  in 


380  THE  REBEL   ELEMENT  IN  MONTANA. 

other  northern  portions  of  the  Union,  where  things  are  called 
by  diplomatic  names.  Senator  Davis,  of  this  district, — an 
ex-rebel  officer  and  a  paroled  prisoner  of  war, — was  chosen 
president  of  the  first  legislative  tribunal  of  Montana  by  a 
unanimous  vote.  Senator  Watson,  also  of  this  district, 
contested  the  honor  of  the  permanent  presidency  of  the 
body;  but  he  had  been  a  legislator  in  Pennsylvania 
(from  Washington  county),  and  his  State  had  furnished 
three  hundred  thousand  loyal  soldiers,  and  none  to  the 
banners  of  crime :  hence  he  was  not  eligible.  One  of  posi- 
tive rebel  proclivities  was  demanded,  and  easily  obtained ; 
and  he  succeeded  two  to  one.  The  principal  work  of  the 
session  will  be  to  nullify  the  acts  of  Congress  as  far  as 
possible,  and  restore  the  laws  recently  annulled  by  the 
national  authority.  The  only  question  is,  whether  they 
will  be  re-enacted  by  a  sweeping  statute  of  a  single  sec- 
tion, after  the  fashion  of  the  Border  Ruffian  legislature  of 
Kansas,  or  be  considered  separately.  They  have  but  forty 
days  to  perform  their  legislative  functions,  and  they  will 
probably  nullify  the  act  of  Congress  in  a  statute  of  about 
three  lines.  In  the  South,  rebel  officers  of  certain  grades 
cannot  vote  or  hold  office.  In  Montana  they  vote,  and 
control  and  fill  most  of  the  important  public  trusts.  A 
registry  law,  with  an  iron-clad  oath,  would  be  of  little  use, 
and  would  simply  multiply  perjury.  They  vote  in  a  very 
free-and-easy  manner  in  the  mountains.  A  resident  can 
vote  at  any  poll  in  the  Territory,  no  matter  where  he  may 
have  his  home,  and  they  do  not  often  take  the  trouble  to 
swear  voters.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  many  "vote -early, 
vote  often,  and  see  that  their  neighbors  vote,"  besides  oc- 
casionally voting  for  them,  in  Montana  elections.  Cava- 
naugh  had  more  majority  in  several  precincts  than  there 
were  men,  women,  and  children  within  the  limits  of  the 
polls.  They  cheated  just  for  the  love  of  it;  for  a  fair  elec- 


THE  STORM-KING   REIGNS.  381 

tion  would  have  given  the  Democracy  as  much  majority  as 
they  needed  for  every  purpose.  Such  little  irregularities 
as  voting  several  times,  upsetting  the  ballot-box  in  a  row, 
and  making  the  count  suit  the  tastes  of  the  controlling 
parties,  are  not  considered  worth  complaining  about.  By- 
and-by  railroads,  free  schools,  and  progressive  agriculture, 
mining  and  commerce,  will  come  along;  and  there  are 
better  days  and  better  government  in  store  for  Montana. 

Old  Winter  has  established  his  despotic  empire  in  our 
midst,  and  he  howls  his  hoarse  murmurs  about  us  with 
pitiless  disregard  of  the  comfort  of  the  mountaineers.  We 
do  not  mind  his  calm  frosts.  The  mercury  may  go  down 
nearly  to  zero,  as  it  has  done  several  times  recently,  and  no 
one  will  think  the  weather  cold;  but  when  the  angry  tem- 
pest takes  up  the  dry  snow  in  its  winds  and  flings  it  in 
mad  confusion  hither  and  thither,  we  are  glad  to  surrender 
the  contest.  While  the  brief  summers  are  most  delightful, 
usually  clear,  calm,  and  balmy  as  Eastern  spring,  winter 
crowns  his  grim  visage  with  almost  perpetual  scowls  and 
storm,  and  the  snows  are  but  feathers  on  his  breath.  The 
valleys  below  us  are  still  bare,  though  bleached  to  repulsive 
barrenness,  but  up  in  the  mountains  all  is  robed  in  white ; 
and  until  another  long  winter  drags  its  weary  months 
along,  we  will  have  but  the  green  tops  of  the  straggling 
pines  to  break  the  painful  monotony  of  the  frosty  mount- 
ain-crown. But  here,  as  elsewhere,  nature  is  beneficent  in 
her  laws.  The  latitude  demands  nearly  half  the  year  for 
winter.  The  earth,  parched  by  dewless  and  rainless  sum- 
mers, refuses  to  rear  the  forest  to  soften  the  gleam  of  the 
winter's  sun ;  and  the  Storm-King  generously  clouds  his 
rays  and  protects  the  residents  of  the  mountain-gorges. 
If  the  winters  were  calm  and  clear  as  the  summers,  fr\v 
eyes  would  survive  the  blinding  glare  of  the  sun  upon  the 
unbroken  coat  of  snow.  It  is  wisely  ordered,  therefore, 

33* 


382  FREEZING   INSENSIBLY. 

that  the  clouds  and  storm  shall  rule  through  winter's 
reign;  and,  when  exceptional  clear  days  fling  their  bril- 
liant beams  over  the  whitened,  glassy  earth,  green  or 
smoked  spectacles  are  necessary  to  those  exposed  to  the 
sun,  if  the  eyes  would  be  protected  from  serious  injury. 
Many  Indians  suffer  from  impaired  sight,  and  some  from 
total  blindness,  by  exposure  in  mild  winters.  In  the  val- 
leys the  snow  disappears  almost  as  rapidly  as  it  falls, 
excepting  in  unusually  severe  cold  spells;  but  in  the 
mountains,  where  Indians  winter  for  game,  they  have  per- 
petual snow  from  early  fall  until  late  spring. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  winters  in  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains is  the  insensibility  of  residents  to  cold.  The  air  is 
so  dry  and  pure  that  the  cold  is  not  felt  as  it  is  in  the 
East.  When  the  thermometer  is  down  to  zero,  it  is  not 
considered  unpleasant  for  out-door  work  unless  there  is  a 
violent  storm  ;  and  men  wear  fewer  clothes,  and  suffer  less, 
than  do  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  in  ordinary  winters. 
Overcoats  are  seldom  worn,  save  by  travelers.  The  chief 
care  that  persons  exposed  to  the  cold  must  exercise,  is  to 
guard  against  freezing  their  feet,  limbs,  hands,  and  ears 
without  any  knowledge  of  it  until  they  get  to  the  fire;  and 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  persons  to  freeze  to  death  without 
any  appreciation  of  their  danger.  Any  one  about  to  start 
on  a  journey  in  very  cold  weather  should  ascertain  the 
range  of  the  thermometer,  and  calculate,  before  he  starts, 
how  long  he  can  safely  expose  himself;  for  he  cannot  trust 
to  his  suffering  to  admonish  him  when  to  cease  the  strug- 
gle with  cold.  Many  Eastern  troops  have  been  frozen 
without  any  sense  of  danger ;  and  even  experienced  resi- 
dents have  suffered  a  like  fate.  The  dry  frost  sends  the 
chilled  blood  gradually  and  without  pain  to  the  heart,  the 
circulation  narrows  imperceptibly,  and,  with  no  admonition 
to  the  traveler  used  to  the  damp,  stinging  winters  of  the 


HEALTH  OF  THE  RESIDENTS.  383 

East,  and  without  serious  discomfort,  the  life-fountain  is 
congealed  in  the  icy  embrace  of  death.  Rheumatism  is 
unknown  in  this  climate, — excepting  among  miners  who 
work  in  wet  placer-diggings  in  winter ;  and  even  among 
them  it  is  very  rare.  I  have  not  seen  a  single  resident  of 
Montana  who  was  suffering  from  a  cold, — the  complaint 
so  common,  and  so  fatal,  in  the  East.  Not  a  case  of  con- 
sumption has  been  contracted  in  the  Territory.  Persons 
suffering  from  it  in  the  incipient  stages  have  invariably 
been  cured ;  and  those  who  had  reached  the  secondary 
stage  have  been  apparently  hastened  to  the  grave.  The 
infirm  of  Montana  are  those  who  came  here  the  victims 
of  fatal  disease,  or  who  are  suffering  from  some  of  the 
many  accidents  incident  to  new  mining-countries.  There 
are  asthmatic  patients  here  who  would  be  glad  to  "go 
home,"  but  dare  not.  After  breathing  the  pure,  invigora- 
ting air  of  the  mountains,  they  would  return  only  to  die. 
Mountain-fevers  occasionally  result  from  exposure;  and 
they  are  the  most  obstinate  cases  Far- Western  physicians 
have  to  treat.  They  are  now  seldom  fatal ;  but,  even  after 
the  tedious  course  of  the  fever  is  run,  patients  rally  more 
slowly  than  fever-subjects  in  the  States.  I  doubt  whether 
any  other  portion  of  the  world  can  excel  Montana  in 
healthful  climate  ;  and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  it 
•will  be  one  of  the  great  resorts  of  the  continent. 


LETTER   XLI. 

A  Sojourn  at  the  Capital. — Pleasant  Weather. — Con.  Orem  broken 
up  in  Business. — His  Groggery  leased  for  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives. — The  Montana  Senate. — Virginia.  City  improving. 
— Bishop  Tuttle. — His  Earnest  and  Successful  Efforts  among 
the  Western  People. — Methodism. — The  Energy  of  the  Catho- 
lics.— Their  Efforts  to  educate  the  Children  of  the  Mountains. 
— A  Prize-Fight  and  Funeral. — Trial  of  Professor  Hodge  for 
Murder. — His  Acquittal. — Interesting  Entertainment  — Confu- 
sion of  the  Glasses  and  Hats. — Belligerent  Attorneys. — How 
they  missed  a  Funeral. — Judge  Williston. — The  Weather. — 
The  Pleasant  Autumn. — Social  Amusements  in  the  Capital  — 
Everything  ends  in  a  Dance. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  November  20,  1867. 
AFTER  six  weeks'  sojourn  in  the  mountains,  I  have 
made  a  hasty  visit  to  the  capital,  to  see  the  legislature, 
the  courts,  and  the  fashions,  and  chat  with  my  new  West- 
ern friends  on  the  corners.  The  weather  is  beautiful, 
the  sun  uncomfortably  warm,  after  it  dissipates  the  morn- 
ing chill,  and  we  seek  the  shady  sides  as  we  cluster  on 
and  whittle  off  store-boxes  and  discuss  current  events. 
My  particular  friend  Con.  Orem  is  out  again,  with  one  of 
his  optics  still  a  little  the  worse  for  his  "  mill"  with 
Dwyer ;  but  he  has  given  me  the  most  positive  assurance 
that  he  will  whip  Dwyer  the  next  time.  His  failure  in 
the  ring  has  broken  his  prestige  and  naturally  diminished 
the  trade  at  his  bar.  He  has  therefore  hauled  off  for  re- 
pairs, and  rented  his  saloon  for  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. The  favorite  sons  of  Montana,  to  the  number  of 
(384) 


THE  MONTANA   SENATE.  385 

thirteen,  gather  in  there  at  ten  every  morning,  to  give 
la\vs  to  the  forty  thousand  people  of  the  Territory.  A 
cheap  double  ingrain  carpet  is  spread  over  half  the  room 
where  the  members  sit,  and  one  of  Con.'s  private  poker 
rooms  has  been  metamorphosed  into  a  platform  for  the 
Speaker  of  the  House.  A  rudely-carved  and  daubed 
eagle,  with  wide-spread  pinions,  is  suspended  back  of  the 
Speaker's  chair;  and,  in  order  that  irreverent  strangers 
may  know  the  solemn  presence  they  attain  when  they 
jostle  in  by  mistake  to  imbibe  one  of  Con.'s  "smashes," 
the  eagle  supports  a  painted  placard  declaring  the  sacred 
purpose  to  which  the  room  has  been  dedicated.  The 
Council,  corresponding  with  our  Senate  in  Pennsylvania, 
sits  a  few  doors  from  the  House,  in  the  loft  of  a  store.  It 
consists  of  seven  members,  of  whom  four  constitute  a 
quorum.  Like  the  House,  but  a  portion  of  the  room  is 
covered  with  cheap  carpet;  and  the  members  sit  around 
the  stove,  smoking,  whittling,  and  cracking  jokes,  while 
the  ordinary  routine  of  legislative  business  is  going  on.  I 
noticed  but  one  man  in  either  branch  who  had  left  a  State 
reputation  behind  him  when  he  came  to  Montana.  I  refer 
to  Hon.  Semple  Orr,  of  Missouri,  who  was  once  an  un- 
successful candidate  for  Governor  in  that  State.  Taken 
as  a  body,  the  legislature  falls  below  mediocrity,  although 
every  county  in  the  Territory  has  first-class  men  who 
would  serve  the  forty  days  if  called  upon.  Here,  as  else- 
where, however,  politics  is  a  trade,  and  is  not  cultivated 
for  the  lesser  honors  by  the  best  men. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  Virginia  City  is  materially  im- 
proving in  morals.  Last  Sunday  I  did  not  see  a  single 
street-auction,  and  not  more  than  half  as  many  storesnvere 
open  as  I  noticed  the  first  Sunday  I  spent  here  in  June 
last.  Bishop  Tuttle,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  has  per- 
formed a  vast  work  in  his  mountain-diocese.  He  came 


386       BISHOP   TUTTLE'S  SUCCESSFUL   EFFORTS. 

here  about  midsummer,  and  has  traversed  the  Territories 
of  Montana,  Idaho,  and  Utah,  visiting  all  the  important 
camps  and  settlements,  and  waging  a  most  vigorous  offen- 
sive warfare  against  the  rule  of  the  prince  of  darkness. 
He  is  able,  eloquent,  sociable,  practical,  and  untiring,  and 
rears  an  altar  to  the  living  God  wherever  he  finds  mortals 
to  gather  around  it.  He  is  equally  at  home  in  the  chapel 
and  in  the  cabin  of  the  lowly ;  is  never  unmindful  of  his 
great  calling,  and  exhorts  to  righteousness  wherever  he 
goes.  I  judge  that  he  would  preach  at  a  prize-fight  if  he 
could  get  a  start  between  the  rounds,  and  dismiss  the 
"  mill"  summarily  with  a  prayer ;  and  so  highly  is  he 
respected,  as  a  sincere  and  consistent  Christian,  that  he  is 
beloved  by  the  most  abandoned.  Instead  of  turning  the 
restless  tide  of  men  to  be  found  here  away  from  him  by  the 
denunciations  of  the  law,  he  preaches  the  atonement,  visits 
the  sick,  mingles  his  prayers  with  the  appeals  of  the  sor- 
rowing, and  tries  to  get  a  Bible  into  the  hands  of  every  wan- 
derer, and  a  primer  into  those  of  every  child.  Here,  where 
skill  is  as  essential  to  a  successful  ministry  as  are  piety 
and  brains,  he  seems  to  be  matchless  in  his  work.  A  good 
politician  was  spoiled  when  he  entered  the  pulpit;  but,  as 
good  politicians  are  comparatively  plenty,  while  efficient 
ministers  are  scarce,  I  am  glad  that  it  has  fallen  to  his  lot 
to  teach  holier  things.  He  has  an  able  ally  in  the  Method- 
ists,— the  pioneers  of  Protestantism  in  new  countries ; 
but  he  wisely  aims  to  educate  the  rising  generation  of  the 
mountains,  while  the  Methodists  teach  only  in  their  Sab- 
bath-schools as  yet.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
Catholics  have  been  the  first  to  occupy  the  whole  Far- 
Western  region.  They  have  not  only  churches  in  almost 
every  camp,  but  their  teachers  come  with  their  mission- 
aries, and  they  are  educating  fully  one-half  the  children  of 
the  Territories  who  are  educated  at  all.  More  than  a 


A   PRIZE-FIGHT  AND  FUNERAL.  387 

century  ago  they  extended  their  missions  from  Mexico  up 
through  what  is  now  Utah,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and 
California;  and,  once  established,  they  rarely  abandon  a 
field.'  The  Methodists  come  after  them,  and  hurl  their 
thunders  against  the  Pope ;  but,  while  they  proselyte  a 
few,  the  priests  are  gradually,  but  surely,  leading  the 
minds  of  the  young  to  their  peculiar  faith,  and  they 
reap  rich  harvests  for  their  labors.  Bishop  Tuttle  is 
founding  schools  wherever  practicable,  and  has  already 
established  a  number  where  the  Catholics  have  hith- 
erto had  no  competitors.  If  he  will  spend  five  years 
in  the  mountains,  he  will  be  the  great  benefactor  of  this 
people,  and  must  have  many  stars  for  his  crown.  The 
only  violent  innovation  upon  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath 
that  occurred  here  last  Sunday  was  a  negro  prize-fight 
that  came  off  behind  the  hill  close  to  the  city.  A  funeral 
had  gathered  the  idlers  around  the  Catholic  church  ;  but, 
while  the  services  were  in  progress,  a  whisper  of  the  fight 
passed  around,  and  when  the  priest  was  through,  half  his 
audience  was  missing.  It  did  not  break  up  the  funeral, 
sadly  as  it  thinned  the  ranks  of  the  procession ;  but  it  did 
break  up  the  fight.  The  sheriff  noticed  the  movement, 
and  followed,  and  his  unexpected  presence  dispersed  the 
unlawful  assembly,  most  unexpectedly  to  himself.  The 
principals  and  bottle-holders  did  not  wait  to  see  whether 
the  sheriff  came  as  a  spectator  or  as  an  officer  of  the  law, 
and  the  bruise  was  called  a  draw  as  the  colored  gentry 
gave  leg-bail.  As  funerals  and  prize-fights  are  about 
equally  rare  in  this  section,  they  had  nearly  an  even 
chance  for  the  crowd  on  the  score  of  novelty ;  but  the  fight 
drew  rather  the  best.  The  bishop  will  have  things  mended 
in  a  moral  way  by  another  year,  and  Sunday  in  Virginia 
City  will  be  as  quiet  and  orderly  as  in  Chambersburg. 
The  most  important  criminal  trial  that  has  ever  occurred 


388  TRIAL    OF  PROFESSOR   HODGE. 

in  Montana  closed  here  on  Saturday  evening;  and  I  wit- 
nessed the  last  day  of  it.  The  ablest  lawyers  were  en- 
gaged,— Colonels  Sanders  and  Wolfork  for  the  defense,  and 
Colonel  May,  with  District  Attorney  Shober,  for  the  prose- 
cution. Professor  Hodge,  of  New  York,  was  tried  for  the 
murder  of  Mr.  Moore ;  and  the  high  personal  and  scientific 
standing  of  the  accused  attracted  public  interest  to  the  case. 
I  might  say  that  he  was  acquitted  of  course,  as  no  capital 
conviction  has  yet  occurred  in  the  Territory,  although  there 
have  been  some  fifty  trials  for  homicide ;  but  the  defense 
had  a  good  cause,  and  he  was  acquitted  justly.  The  four 
speeches  of  the  attorneys  occupied  ten  hours, — two  and  a 
half  hours  each;  and,  as  no  good  lawyer  could  talk  that  long 
on  a  case  with  less  than  a  dozen  important  witnesses,  they 
naturally  made  half  their  speeches  on  the  case  and  the 
other  half  on  each  other.  It  seems  that  they  had  to  talk 
their  time  out,  or  expose  themselves  to  the  imputation  of 
inability  to  do  justice  to  their  cause ;  and  before  the  long 
argument  was  closed,  some  bad  blood  and  more  bad 
whisky  got  into  it.  Derringers  and  revolvers  were  there- 
fore in  demand  before  the  mellow  mountain-twilight  had 
disappeared.  An  entertainment  given  impromptu  to  Pro- 
fessor Hodge,  at  the  hotel  where  I  was  staying,  severed 
the  incensed  combatants,  and  we  all  made  merry  over 
the  congratulations  and  repeatedly  proposed  health  of  the 
rescued  professor.  The  wine  not  only  eifervesced  in  the 
bottles,  but  it  seemed  to  effervesce  in  the  secondary  stage 
as  well ;  and  we  had  toasts  and  eloquence  and  drinks  until 
the  drinks  and  eloquence  began  to  multiply  themselves 
by  compound  rules,  and  anywhere  outside  of  the  mount- 
ains I  would  have  called  the  party  hilarious.  Finally  the 
bottles  became  awkward  ;  they  would  tumble  over,  no  one 
knew  why,  and  as  often  attempt  to  stand  on  the  top  as  on 
the  bottom  ;  the  wine  was  wayward  as  untamed  lightning 


BELLIGERENT  ATTORNEYS.  389 

and  would  run  almost  everywhere  but  in  the  glasses ;  the 
glasses  would  not  hold  still  for  the  bottles,  and  seemed  to 
break  now  and  then  most  unaccountably ;  the  waiters 
would  mistake  the  smoker's  nose  for  his  cigar  or  pipe,  and 
add  a  fresh  blossom  to  it, — until  finally  confusion  brought 
on  a  general  engagement,  when  "Nick  Berry,"  the  deputy 
sheriif,  whose  glass-ware  had  committed  more  than  its 
share  of  blunders,  declared  the  entertainment  closed  in 
consequence  of  the  immediate  approach  of  Sunday.  I  have 
yet  to  hear  of  the  first  man  who  got  away  with  his  own 
hat ;  and  the  inference  is  irresistible  that  the  hats  were  on 
a  spree  while  the  social  party  was  in  progress.  The  next 
day,  being  Sunday,  the  belligerent  attorneys  had  leisure, 
and  some  time  in  the  course  of  the  morning  they  each  re- 
collected that  there  were  mortal  injuries  to  be  atoned  for, 
and  three  braces  of  pistols,  well  loaded  and  capped,  swung 
in  as  many  coat-tails.  Industriously  did  the  embryo  com- 
batants search  for  each  other ;  but  they  always  happened 
to  roam  on  different  streets,  and  the  sun  went  down  on 
their  unappeased  wrath.  Judge  Williston  and  I  walked 
the  streets  for  several  hours,  expecting  to  come  across  a  first- 
el  ass  funeral.  He  had  new  clothes  on,  and  he  considered 
it  most  fortunate  that  he  could  be  on  hand  in  faultless 
black.  As  a  sort  of  honorary  member  of  the  bar,  I  had 
thought  out  the  points  of  a  speech  to  be  delivered  to  the 
mourning  brethren  of  the  profession  in  case  of  a  fatal  en- 
counter ;  and  the  judge  was  just  in  trim  to  preside  with 
the  dignity  demanded  by  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion. 
But  the  next  morning  the  war  was  over  ;  two  of  the  bel- 
ligerents had,  in  their  haste  for  an  "eye-opener,"  taken  a 
"  smile"  together  before  their  slumbering  pugnacity  was 
aroused,  and  Peace  spread  her  silvered  wings  over  the 
bar  and  the  bars  of  the  capital. 

The  weather  has  been  remarkably  fine  in  the  mountains 
34 


390       SOCIAL  AMUSEMENTS  IN  THE   CAPITAL. 

this  fall.  With  the  exception  of  several  snow-storms,  we 
have  had  more  genial  days  than  I  have  ever  known  in 
Pennsylvania.  During  this  month  the  thermometer, 
marked  at  noon  and  at  six,  morning  and  evening,  has 
averaged  a  fraction  over  forty-seven  degrees ;  and  up  in 
Union  City,  seven  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  the  days  have  been  the  most  pleasant  I  have  ever  en- 
joyed in  any  climate.  It  was  so  in  the  fall  of  1863,  and 
the  succeeding  winter  was  very  mild,  with  brief  excep- 
tional cold  spells ;  but  the  last  two  winters  were  long  and 
severe.  The  Indians  and  old  mountaineers  all  predict  that 
the  coming  winter  will  be  unusually  moderate  ;  and  I  hope 
that  they  may  not  prove  false  prophets.  The  people,  how- 
ever, calculate  on  long  winters,  and  prepare  for  them.  There 
are  more  social  amusements  in  this  city  than  in  any  town 
treble  its  size  in  the  States.  The  Governor  and  his  lady 
give  a  public  reception  every  week  in  the  largest  room  that 
can  be  found,  and  several  hundred  attend  regularly.  A 
formal  bow  to  the  Governor  and  his  wife,  and  a  shake  of 
their  hands,  end  all  ceremony,  and  thenceforth  the  attend- 
ants promenade,  waltz,  polka,  or  join  cotillons,  to  elegant 
music,  at  pleasure.  When  I  left,  at  midnight,  there  seemed 
to  be  no  abatement  in  the  dance.  I  could  not  join,  as,  while 
little  was  done  for  the  cultivation  of  my  head  when  young, 
the  heels  were  totally  neglected ;  and  I  was  entertained  by 
the  perspiring  dancers  as  they  would  drop  out  to  gather 
breath.  They  have  other  social  assemblies  which  meet 
weekly  and  vary  the  entertainment  between  lectures  and 
dancing.  I  believe  that  all  meetings  in  this  region,  ex- 
cepting at  church  and  funerals,  end  in  a  dance,  no  matter 
how  they  begin.  The  people  of  the  mountains  enjoy  life, 
and  never  discount  trouble.  When  it  comes,  they  meet  it 
manfully,  and  with  the  first  ray  of  sunshine  they  leave 
their  sorrows  behind  them,  and  move  on  to  gather  the 
flowers  from  the  sunny  sides  of  the  rugged  journey. 


LETTER   XLII. 

The  Heroes  of  Civilization  in  Montana. — Colonel  Wilbur  F.  San- 
ders, the  Volunteer  Advocate  of  the  People. — His  Defense  of 
Order  and  Signal  Triumph  over  Crime. — The  Trial  and  Execu- 
tion of  George  Ives. — His  Position  at  the  Bar. — Leading  the 
Forlorn  Hope  of  Kepublicanism. — Colonel  George  L.  Shoup, 
the  Hero  of  Sand  Creek.— His  History  of  that  Battle.— His  In- 
tegrity, Courage,  and  Benevolence. — Colonel  Neil  Howie. — His 
Capture  of  "Dutch  John." — He  commands  the  Montana  Mi- 
litia.— His  Defense  of  the  Gallatin  Border. — Kestrained  from 
Offensive  Movements.— The  Tides  of  Fickle  Fortune  in  the 
Mountains. — The  Discoverer  of  the  Comstock  Mine. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  November  25, 1867. 
WHILE  every  new  country  has  its  heroes  whose  names 
are  justly  inscribed  on  the  scroll  of  fame,  it  is  not  uncommon 
for  the  deeds  of  some  of  the  most  useful  and  heroic  to  be 
unknown  beyond  the  limited  circles  in  which  they  move. 
Colonel  Beidler  figures  in  every  Montana  newspaper,  be- 
cause he  is  ever  crossing  the  path  of  noted  criminals,  and 
the  records  of  crime  necessarily  perpetuate  and  widen  his 
fame.  While  others  who  stood  by  his  side  in  the  darkest 
days  of  trial,  and  performed  acts  of  noblest  heroism,  have 
withdrawn  to  the  quiet  channels  of  business,  he  has  con- 
tinued on  the  war-path  against  desperadoes,  and  stands 
without  a  rival  as  the  terrible  messenger  of  justice.  Of  him 
I  have  written  before  and  with  more  minuteness,  because 
of  the  interest  his  persona]  acquaintance  in  Franklin 
county  attaches  to  his  history;  and  I  now  turn  to  pay  a 

(391) 


392  COLONEL    WILBUR   F.   SANDERS. 

hasty  tribute  to  several  others  who  justly  rank  among  the 
heroic  of  the  mountain-regions. 

Colonel  Wilbur  F.  Sanders  was  one  of  the  first  per- 
manent settlers  of  Montana.  He  had  previously  served 
with  marked  gallantry  in  the  Union  army,  until  broken 
health  compelled  him  to  abandon  a  calling  that  enlisted 
his  whole  heart  and  was  an  inviting  theatre  for  his  manly 
courage.  When  Governor  Edgerton,  his  uncle,  was  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  the  Territory,  Colonel  Sanders  came 
with  him,  in  search  of  health,  adventure,  and  fortune.  He 
had  already  attained  a  high  position  at  the  Ohio  bar,  for 
one  of  his  years ;  and  on  his  arrival  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  here  before  the 
courts  were  organized,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  in- 
troducing forms  of  law,  and  in  winning  for  them  that 
respect  so  often  denied  in  new  countries,  but  so  essential 
to  the  order  and  safety  of  society.  When  he  came,  Plum- 
mer  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  and  the  whole  energy 
of  the  law  was  paralyzed  by  desperate  and  corrupt  officers 
charged  with  its  execution.  Crime  was  supreme  and 
defiant.  Murders  were  committed  in  open  day,  without 
fear  of  retribution,  and  robberies  were  almost  of  hourly 
occurrence.  A  reign  of  terror  spread  its  dark  pall  over 
the  camps  and  settlements  of  Montana,  and  none  dared  to 
demand  the  punishment  of  the  criminals  who  publicly 
gloried  in  their  evil  deeds.  In  the  fall  of  1863  the  for- 
bearance of  the  better  class  of  citizens  was  exhausted,  and 
the  resistance  to  crime  took  form  in  the  organization  of  a 
vigilance  committee.  The  desperadoes' were  confederated 
by  oaths  and  signs ;  they  knew  their  men,  and  could  com- 
mand them  at  any  point  in  the  shortest  possible  period 
ready  for  action.  But  the  very  perils  which  beset  the 
eft'ort  to  redeem  Montana  from  the  thraldom  of  crime  made 
strong  men  stronger,  and,  with  the  highest  resolve  to  do 


TRIAL  AND  EXECUTION  OF  GEORGE  IVES.      393 

and  dare  for  the  right,  George  Ives,  one  of  the  desperado 
leaders,  was  arrested  and  arraigned  before  a  court  of  the 
people.  Several  thousand  spectators  were  present,  all 
armed ;  but  how  many  of  them  were  ready  to  obey  the 
secret  signal  of  Plummer's  band  and  murder  the  chief 
actors,  no  one  friendly  to  order  could  judge.  With  their 
lives  in  their  hands  they  erected  the  new  altar  of  justice, 
selected  a  jury  of  twenty-four  true  men  to  pass  upon  the 
guilt  of  the  prisoner,  and  called  for  a  prosecutor.  It  was 
the  most  perilous  of  all  the  positions  in  the  court,  and  men 
naturally  hesitated.  A  young  advocate,  tall  and  slender 
in  stature,  but  with  intelligence  and  determination  written 
in  every  feature  of  his  face,  came  forward,  and,  in  the  name 
of  the  people,  charged  that  George  Ives  was  a  murderer 
and  unfit  to  live.  His  bearing  told,  more  eloquently  than 
could  language,  that  either  himself  or  the  criminal  must 
die;  and  his  clear  voice  rang  out  over  the  plain  as  he 
pleaded  the  cause  of  order  with  a  fervor .  and  ability  that 
thrilled  the  audience,  and  paralyzed  the  majority  who  had 
come  determined  to  save  their  companion  by  fresh  murder 
if  necessary.  The  jury  rendered  their  verdict,  declaring 
the  prisoner  guilty.  It  was  confidently  expected  by  his 
friends  that  the  most  the  court  would  dare  to  do  would 
be  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  banishment ;  but  they  little 
knew  the  earnestness  of  the  citizens.  While  the  desperadoes 
were  clamoring  for  the  submission  of  the  sentence  to  the 
audience,  the  tall,  gaunt  form  of  the  young  prosecutor  ap- 
peared on  a  wagon,  and,  with  his  eyes  flashing  his  invin- 
cible will,  he  moved  that  "George  Ives  be  forthwith  hung 
by  the  neck  until  he  is  dead!"  Before  the  well-organized 
friends  of  the  accused  recovered  from  this  bold  and  unex- 
pected movement,  the  motion  was  carried ;  and  not  until 
the  sudden  clicks  of  the  guns  of  the  guard  were  heard 
simultaneously  with  the  order  to  "fall  back  from  the  pris- 

34* 


394      COLONEL  SANDER&S  POSITION  AT  THE  BAR. 

oner,"  did  they  appreciate  that  their  comrade  was  doomed 
to  die.  With  matchless  skill  the  advocate  for  the  people 
had  carried  his  case  to  judgment,  and  the  murderers  were 
appalled  as  in  less  than  an  hour  they  saw  Ives  drop  in  the 
death-noose.  The  people,  clad  in  the  strong  armor  of  jus- 
tice, had  triumphed  in  the  very  presence  of  the  heroes  of 
crime;  and  the  execution  of  the  stern  judgment  fore- 
shadowed the  fate  of  all  the  robber's  band.  Before  an- 
other autumn  chilled  the  mountain  -  breezes,  not  one  of 
them  was  among  the  living.  The  young  advocate  who 
thus  braved  defiant  crime  in  the  very  citadel  of  its  power, 
and  hurled  back  the  fearful  tide  of  disorder,  was  Colonel 
Sanders;  and  he  is  to-day  beloved  by  every  good  citizen, 
and  hated  by  every  wrong-doer,  for  his  sublime  heroism 
in  behalf  of  the  right.  He  is  still  at  the  bar,  and  tries  one 
side  of  every  important  case  in  his  district.  The  traces  of 
his  early  efforts  against  the  lawless  are  still  visible  in  his 
peerless  invective  when  it  is  warranted  at  the  bar ;  but  he 
is  known  to  be  brave  to  a  fault,  and  as  generous  and  noble 
as  he  is  brave,  and  pretenders  do  not  seek  notoriety  by 
testing  the  qualities  of  his  manhood.  He  is  still  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and,  but  for  his  fidelity  to  peace  and  order, 
and  his  earnest  devotion  to  his  country's  cause,  he  would 
have  been  in  Co«gress  from  the  organization  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, and  continued  to  represent  Montana  until  he  volun- 
tarily surrendered  the  trust.  He  has  twice  led  the  forlorn 
hope  of  the  Republicans, — first  in  1864,  and  again  in  1867 ; 
and,  in  the  face  of  predominant  treason,  he  has  been  boldly 
faithful  to  freedom  and  to  all  the  logical  results  of  treason's 
bloody  failure.  With  abiding  faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph 
of  correct  principles,  he  will  battle  on  until  churches  and 
schools  and  railroads' come  to  his  aid  and  give  victory  to 
a  better  civilization.  When  that  triumph  shall  have  been 
won,  he  will  be  the  crowning  victor,  aud  wear  its  richest 
laurels. 


COLONEL   GEORGE  L.   SHOUP.  395 

Colonel  George  L.  Shoup,  the  hero  of  Sand  Creek,  Colo- 
rado, is  now  a   citizen  of  Montana.      You  might  meet 
him  every  day  for  a  year  and  not  know  where  he  has 
been,  what  he  has  done,  and  what  his  purposes  are,  unless 
closely  questioned.     He  is  tall,  well  formed,  has  a  coun- 
tenance that  denotes  unmistakably  the  integrity  of  all  his 
actions,  and  his  soft  blue  eyes  and  pleasant,  unaffected 
manners  stamp  him  as  anything  but  a  man  of  cruel  in- 
stincts.    He  has  spent  many  years  in  the  mountains,  has 
amassed  an  ample  fortune,  and  mingles  with  his  business 
many  generous  deeds  of  which  the  world  knows  not.    On 
but  one  subject  can  he  be  aroused  out  of  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way.     When  you  speak  of  ''friendly  Indians"  in  his 
presence,  his  eyes  kindle  and  his  reserve  is  broken.     It  is 
the  key  that  unlocks  the  only  passion  that  is  stronger  than 
himself.     He  has  spent  the  most  of  his  days  in  the  Indian 
country,  and  has  never  harmed  them  save  in  self-defense. 
The  degraded  fragmentary  bands  which  wander   about 
Salmon  River,  where  he  does  business,  never  appeal  to 
his  generosity  in  vain ;  but  he  well  knows  that  they  will 
steal  and  murder  when  they  think  they  can  do  so  with 
safety.    He  has  been  among  all  the  tribes,  and  has  but  one 
story  for  the  race, — that  they  will  murder  wantonly  when 
they  can  hope  to  escape  detection.     He  credits  them  with 
no  friendship  for  the  whites  beyond  what  is  dictated  by 
fear.     He  was  in  Colorado  when  the  horrible  butcheries 
of  1863  aroused  the  settlers  to  the  deepest  hostility,  and 
he  raised  a  regiment  to  serve  in  the  Indian  war.     At  the 
battle  of  Sand  Creek,  known  East  as  the  Chivington  mas- 
sacre, he  was  in  immediate  command,  and  directed  the 
movements  of  the  troops  in  the  engagement.     It  would 
have  been  well  for  the  government,  and  for  the  people  of 
the  Far  West,  had  his  judgment  been  accepted  and  his 
actions  approved ;  but  dishonest  Indians,  and  still  worse 


396       SIS  HISTORY  OF  SAND    CREEK  BATTLE. 

Indian  agents,  urged  that  the  Sand  Creek  Indians  were 
not  hostile,  and  Congress  paid  them  for  their  loss  of  stolen 
property,  and  atoned  for  their  loss  of  warriors  by  gener- 
ous annuities.  Colonel  Shoup  has  informed  me — and  his 
veracity  has  never  been  impeached  where  he  is  known — 
that  among  the  killed  was  one  leader  of  an  Indian  band 
that  had  robbed  a  train  but  a  short  time  before ;  that  he 
recovered  horses  and  mules  belonging  to  different  trains 
previously  captured  by  Indians ;  that  three  scalps  from 
white  women,  not  yet  dry,  were  seen  and  examined  by 
himself  and  others,  and  that  a  vast  amount  of  other  plun- 
der, taken  from  trains  and  families,  was  found  in  their 
camp.  The  battle,  he  admits,  was  a  butchery,  and  because 
it  could  be  nothing  less.  By  the  side  of  the  warriors  the 
squaws  and  children,  old  enough  to  fight,  fought  with  the 
desperation  of  fiends;  and  the  battle  could  not  cease  until 
the  Indians  were  killed,  because  they  would  not  surren- 
der. Children  were  killed  because  they  were  within  the 
Indian  rifle-pits,  and  could  not  wholly  escape.  In  govern- 
ment circles  he  would  be  called  a  murderer,  and  an  insti- 
gator of  war  with  the  Indians ;  but  where  he  is  known 
his  valor,  integrity,  and  humanity  are  regarded  as  the  con- 
spicuous traits  of  his  character.  He  is  not  a  contractor 
nor  a  politician,  and  he  could  buy  anything  in  the  Montana 
market  to-day  twenty  per  cent,  lower  than  could  the  gen- 
eral government,  because  his  credit  is  better  and  his  faith 
unbroken.  When  Montana  shall  have  passed  through  the 
hard  ordeal  that  must  form  a  part  of  the  history  of  all  new 
Territories,  her  peaceful  and  prosperous  advancement  will 
be  greatly  indebted  to  the  unpretending  but  efficient  efforts 
of  Colonel  Shoup. 

Colonel  Neil  Howie,  United  States  Marshal  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, is  another  of  those  who  have  marked  the  history 
of  Montana  with  creditable  fame.  He  was  a  resident  here 


COLONEL   NEIL   HOWIE.  39 1 

in  the  dark  days  when  the  desperate  struggle  between  or- 
der and  chaos  came  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  conflict,  when 
every  active  friend  of  society  was  pointed  out  for  sacri- 
fice, he  performed  the  most  conspicuous  act  of  individual 
heroism  that  is  recorded  in  the  many  noble  acts  of  noble 
men  in  the  mountains.  "  Dutch  John,"  one  of  the  most 
merciless  outlaws,  who  had  committed  a  number  of  atro- 
cious murders,  was  met  on  the  highway  by  Colonel  Howie 
and  his  train.  In  vain  did  the  colonel  appeal  to  his  men 
to  aid  him  in  arresting  the  desperado ;  and  finally,  when  he 
saw  that  assistance  could  not  be  had,  he  resolved  to  arrest 
him  single-handed  or  die  in  the  attempt.  He  followed 
the  criminal,  and,  when  seen,  his  errand  could  not  be  mis- 
understood. When  the  rifle  of  the  murderer  was  about  to 
be  leveled,  quick  as  the  lightning's  flHi  Howie's  trusty 
pistol  was  drawn,  and  any  effort  at  resistance  would  have 
been  instant  death.  He  had  "the  drop,"  and  there  could 
then  be  no  contest.  He  captured  the  villain,  and  brought 
him  to  the  gallows.  He  is  of  medium  size,  much  the 
build  of  Colonel  Beidler,  but  a  little  taller,  and  is  quite 
muscular.  He  has  the  inevitable  blue  eyes  which  seem  to 
prevail  among  the  heroes  of  the- West,  and  as  genial  and 
amiable  a  face  as  could  be  found  in  a  thousand.  During 
the  last  summer  he  commanded  the  Montana  volunteers ; 
and  his  name  was  a  host  in  protecting  the  exposed  valleys. 
General  Sherman  might  have  been  at  Bozeman  City  with 
five  thousand  troops,  and  the  people  of  the  Gallatin  could 
not  have  escaped  the  scalping-knife  of  the  savage ;  but 
Colonel  Howie,  with  less  than  four  hundred  men,  pro- 
tected one  hundred  miles  of  exposed  frontier  but  a  little 
distance  from  the  hostile  tribes.  The  Indians  knew  that 
he  was  on  the  defensive,  and  would  sO  remain  unless  they 
inaugurated  war  against  the  settlers.  They  knew  also 
that,  if  provoked  to  move  against  them,  he  would  give 


398        THE  DISCOVERER    OF  COM  STOCK  MINE. 

them  war  in  their  own  way, — just  such  war  as  the  Indian 
will  never  invite ;  and  there  was  peace  here  while  the  hos- 
tile bands  traveled  one  thousand  miles  to  assail  reg- 
ular troops.  A  scouting-party  was  sent  out  by  Colonel 
Howie  to  ascertain  the  movements  of  the  Indians.  The 
party  was  assailed  by  a  large  band,  and  two  killed  and 
three  wounded.  Colonel  Howie,  with  thirty  men  from  his 
command,  rescued  the  wounded  and  recovered  the  dead  in 
the  face  of  three  hundred  savages.  The  next  day  a  re- 
inforcement of  a  hundred  men  joined  him ;  but  he  dared 
not  advance,  for  Terry  had  forbidden  it,  lest  he  should 
bring  on  an  Indian  war ;  and  he  returned  to  his  camp  fret- 
ting like  a  caged  eagle  over  the  imbecility  of  great  com- 
manders. He  is  now  back  from  the  field,  as  the  Indians, 
under  the  polic^of  buying  peace  with  money,  ammuni- 
tion, arms,  etc.,  will  keep  quiet  during  the  winter,  when 
they  could  be  fought  successfully ;  and  next  spring  he  will 
doubtless  return  to  the  border  to  protect  the  settlers,  while 
the  regular  army  will  waste  millions,  protract  the  war, 
and  sacrifice  fresh  thousands  of  emigrants  and  residents 
to  military  stupidity  and  Indian  savagery.  He  is  now 
quietly  performing  his  duties  as  United  States  Marshal, 
with  Colonel  Beidler  as  his  assistant,  and  is  honored  by 
all  classes  for  his  high  social  qualities  and  true  heroism. 

The  history  of  many  men  in  the  mining-regions  would 
make  romance  pale  before  the  truthful  portrayal  of  personal 
adventure  and  the  variable  tides  of  fortune.  The  name 
of  Comstock  is  known  in  every  business-circle  on  the  con- 
tinent. The  celebrated  Comstock  mine  in  Nevada,  now 
operated  by  companies  whose  stocks  command  from  thirty 
to  forty  millions  on  the  market,  was  discovered  by  an  old 
prospecter  of  that  name,  who  sold  his  interest  for  less  than 
three  thousand  dollars,  part  of  which  was  paid  in  trade. 
When  in  Deer  Lodge,  last  August,  I  found  him  gaining  a 


THE  TIDES   OF  FICKLE  FORTUNE.  399 

precarious  subsistence  by  working  in  the  gulches  of  that 
county.  The  tide  in  his  affairs  was  not  ''taken  at  the 
flood ;"  and  he  is  in  poverty  while  millions  have  been  made 
by  others  as  the  fruits  of  his  labors.  "  Every  one  has  his 
chance  some  time,"  is  a  saying  of  the  miners;  and  it  is  in 
the  main  true.  I  have  scarcely  found  a  miner,  among  the 
hundreds  I  have  seen,  who  did  not  at  one  time  or  another 
have  fortune  within  his  reach.  Many  have  acquired  a 
competence,  and  wasted  it  as  rapidly  as  it  was  gathered ; 
and  nearly  all  have  had  opportunities  which,  if  properly 
used,  would  have  given  success.  But,  with  all  the  fortunes 
they  have  acquired,  and  all  they  have  had  within  their 
grasp,  there  are  very  few  indeed  who  could  leave  the  mines 
better  off  than  they  came.  They  ling«kfrom  spring  to 
fall,  and  from  fall  to  spring,  always  hoping  to  gather 
wealth  and  return  to  old  friends ;  but  disappointments 
follow  in  continued  succession,  or  dissipation  defies  the 
best  resolves,  and  they  remain,  and  will  remain,  until, 
after  "life's  fitful  fever,"  they  will  sleep  in  the  unmarked 
tombs  of  the  mountains. 


LETTER    XLIII. 

The  Pacific  Eailroads. — The  Central  Koule. — Its  Impassable 
Snows. — The  Great  Achievement  of  a  Pacific  Kailroad. — The 
Northern  Pacific  Eailroad  Line. — The  Growth  of  the  North- 
western Territories. — A  Continuous  Line  of  Civilization  from 
the  Atlantic  to  Puget  Sound. — Advantage  of  Distance  in  the 
Northern  Koute. —  The  "Western  Terminus  nearer  the  Asiatic 
Commercial  Ports  than  San  Francisco. — It  crosses  the  Great 
Kivers  of  the  "West. — Advantage  in  its  Construction.  —Climate 
on  the  NorthertBteoute. — Lower  Altitude. — Succession  of  Hot 
Springs. — The  Incalculable  Development  it  will  inspire. — 
Changes  in  the  Present  Centres  of  Trade. — The  Commerce  of 
the  World  will  pay  Tribute  to  the  Northern  Railroad. 

UNION  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  December  2,  1867. 
THE  nation  has  wisely  given  its  credit  to  make  the  great 
Central  Pacific  Railroad  line  an  established  fact.  Already 
the  iron  horse  climbs  the  Sierra  Nevadas  from  the  golden 
slopes  of  California,  and  traverses  the  Eastern  Plains 
from  the  Missouri  to  the  base  of  the  mountains  at  Chey- 
enne. The  year  1870  will  unite  the  Union  and  the  Central 
iron  bonds  across  the  continent  in  the  valley  of  Utah,  and 
the  tourist  may  then  worship  one  Sabbath  in  Boston  and 
the  next  in  San  Francisco.  In  the  mean  time  the  line 
from  St.  Louis  is  moving  westward  by  the  Smoky  Hill 
to  Denver,  and  thence  it  will  turn  south,  through  ]N"<>w 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  northwest, 
along  the  eastern  foot-hills,  through  the  fertile  valleys  of 
the  Bozeman  route,  to  the  Northern  line  on  the  Yellow- 
stone or  Gallatin. 
(400) 


THE  NORTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  LINE.      401 

While  the  construction  of  the  Central  line  was  the  first 
necessity  of  the  nation,  the  rapid  march  of  progress  to  the 
north  has  left  it  as  but  the  secondary  highway  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Its  distance  is  some  five  hundred 
miles  more  ;  its  grades  heavier ;  its  highest  altitude  nearly 
three  thousand  feet  greater ;  its  snows  deeper ;  its  winters 
much  more  severe ;  and  from  the  eastern  base  of  the  Rocky 
range  to  the  western  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada — a  dis- 
tance of  probably  twelve  hundred  miles — the  valley  of  the 
Utah  alone  is  productive  of  freights,  while  for  not  less 
than  four  months  of  the  year  five  hundred  miles  of  the 
road  will  be  often  impassable.  I  crossed  the  summit  of 
the  Rocky  range  at  Bridger's  Pass  in  a  terrible  snow-storm 
on  the  6th  of  June,  and  on  the  9th  passed  over  five  feet 
of  snow  on  the  Wasatch  range.  But  I  hope  that  our 
proverbial  energy  and  perseverance  will  at  least  measur- 
ably overcome  these  adverse  elements.  Whether  it  shall 
be  done  or  not,  this  great  highway  was  an  imperative 
necessity,  and  Congress,  and  those  who  have  prosecuted 
the  enterprise  with  such  wonderful  celerity,  deserve  the 
gratitude  of  the  nation.  It  will  make  new  fields  to  blos- 
som where  now  are  waste  and  desolation,  bring  fresh 
thousands  of  pioneers  in  the  valleys  and  mountains  along 
its  line,  and  develop  new  sources  of  industry  and  new 
mines  of  wealth,  until  the  bleak  cliffs  and  the  "  American 
Desert"  unite  in  swelling  the  triumphant  progress  of  the 
New  World.  So  much  has  been  well  done.  The  credit 
of  the  government,  so  liberally  given  when  the  undertaking 
was  a  doubtful  one,  has  not  drained  the  Treasury  of  any 
of  its  sadly-needed  revenues,  and  the  time  is  past  when 
national  responsibility  need  be  apprehended.  The  rail- 
road will  be  more  than  able  to  maintain  its  own  credit  and 
care  for  its  liabilities,  both  government  and  corporate;  and 
the  nation  is  greatly  enriched,  without  the  danger  of  loss. 

35 


402      GROWTH    OF  NORTHWESTERN  TERRITORIES. 

But,  since  the  construction  of  the  Central  line  has  been 
determined  upon,  the  march  of  civilization  has  not  been 
sluggish  in  the  North.  Montana  has  opened  with  her 
thirty  or  forty  thousand  population,  and  has  contributed 
one  hundred  million  dollars  of  gold  to  the  wealth  of  the 
world.  Idaho  has  nearly  an  equal  population,  and  is  pour- 
ing out  her  millions  annually  of  the  precious  metals.  West 
of  the  mountains,  Oregon  and  Washington  have  far  ad- 
vanced in  agriculture,  in  addition  to  their  mineral  wealth. 
Hundreds  of  miles  to  the  north  is  our  newly-acquired 
Russian  America,  with  its  mines,  lumber,  furs,  and  fish ; 
while  between  lie  the  British  Possessions,  bidding  us  to 
prepare  for  protection  to  our  extended  borders.  Nor  has 
the  march  of  progress  been  wholly  to  the  Far  Northwest. 
From  the  centre  of  Montana,  and  from  the  Missouri  and 
the  Platte,  the. tide  of  civilization  has  been  coursing  on- 
ward, until  the  pioneers  are  scattered  through  the  hills  and 
valleys  from  the  Gallatin  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone, 
and  from  the  Upper  Missouri  to  the  Eastern  plains.  When 
the  Central  route  is  blockaded  by  snows,  the  sturdy  ranch- 
men of  Montana  are  herding  their  flocks  in  the  mild  climate 
of  the  Gallatin  and  far  down  the  Yellowstone,  and  will  bring 
them  back  in  the  spring  for  the  butcher's  block.  There  is 
now  an  almost  continuous  line  of  people  and  commerce 
from  the  Atlantic  to  Puget  Sound ;  and,  but  for  the  scalping- 
knife  of  the  savage,  towns  would  be  reared  as  by  magic, 
and  the  bleached  plains  of  to-day  would  wave  with  golden 
harvests  in  another  year. 

The  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  will 
enable  New  York  to  reach  the  Pacific  in  less  than  three 
thousand  miles,  while  to  San  Francisco  the  distance  is 
nearly  three  thousand  five  hundred.  From  an  appar- 
ently reliable  work  before  me  (Hall's  "Guide  to  the  Great 
West"),  the  exact  difference  in  favor  of  the  Northern  route 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  NORTHERN  ROUTE.      4Q3 

over  the  Central  is  five  hundred  and  forty-two  miles  from 
Boston,  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  from  New  York,  four 
hundred  and  eighty-five  from  Cincinnati,  three  hundred  and 
sixty-four  from  St.  Louis,  five  hundred  and  forty-two  from 
Chicago ;  and  from  every  port  east  of  New  Orleans  the  dif- 
ference is  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  over  five  hundred 
miles  in  favor  of  this  line.  This  great  disparity  in  the  dis- 
tances of  the  two  routes  must,  in  itself,  tell  decidedly  in  their 
relative  success  when  both  are  completed  ;  and  it  should 
now  be  conclusive  of  the  immediate  construction  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Road,  if  all  other  advantages  were  only 
equal.  But  in  every  other  essential  respect  the  Northern 
route  has  substantial  advantages  over  the  Central.  The 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston  merchants  will  not 
only  reach  the  Pacific  five  hundred  miles  quicker  than  by 
the  Central,  but  when  at  Puget  Sound  they  are  several 
hundred  miles  nearer  the  centres  of  trade  in  Australia, 
China,  and  Japan ;  and  the  English  merchant  will  reach 
the  trade  of  China,  across  our  continent,  in  nearly  half  the 
time  he  now  reaches  it  by  Suez.  In  1860  the  value  of 
English  exports  to  China  was  nearly  thirty  million  dollars, 
and  the  imports  from  Shanghai — the  nearest  important 
port  in  China  from  Puget  Sound — to  England  were  over 
thirty  million  pounds  of  tea  and  twenty  thousand  bales  of 
silk,  and  twenty  million  pounds  of  tea  and  two  thousand 
bales  of  silk  to  the  United  States.  Puget  Sound  has  spa- 
cious harbors  as  secure  as  any  on  either  coast,  and  is  sur- 
rounded with  fine  timber  and  immense  beds  of  excellent 
coal,  from  which  California  draws  her  main  supply.  A  pros- 
perous and  progressing  agriculture  is  back  of  it  in  Oregon, 
Washington,  and  Montana ;  and  the  finest  water-powers 
give  promise  of  extensive  manufacturing  in  the  future. 

But  the  shorter  line  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific, 
and  from  thence  to  China  and  Japan,  is  not  the  only  mate- 


404     ADVANTAGES   OF  THE  NORTHERN  ROUTE. 

rial  advantage  in  favor  of  the  Northern  route.  It  crosses 
the  great  rivers,  the  great  "natural  highways"  of  trade, 
and  the  cost  and  time  necessary  to  its  construction  are 
thereby  sensibly  diminished.  The  Central  line  had  to  be 
built  from  but  two  points, — the  Missouri  and  the  Sacra- 
mento. No  intermediate  point  could  be  supplied  with 
iron,  timber,  machinery,  provisions,  etc.;  and  the  two  par- 
ties must  patiently  plod  on  until  they  meet.  There  are  no 
rivers  by  which  material  can  be  transported  to  any  part  of 
the  route,  and  every  pound  of  iron  for  the  middle  portion 
of  the  road  has  to  cross  the  Rocky  range  from  the  Mis- 
souri, or  plow  the  ocean  to  S  an  Francisco,  thence  to  cross 
the  Sierra  Nevada.  On  the  Northern  route,  parties  can 
work  east  and  west  from  the  Missouri,  others  can  work 
east  and  west  from  the  Yellowstone,  and  others  can  work 
east  and  west  from  the  Columbia,  and  all  can  be  supplied 
with  iron,  locomotives,  provisions,  and  all  necessary  mate- 
rial at  comparatively  low  cost.  There  are  but  few  sections 
on  the  route  that  will  not  supply  an  abundance  of  good 
timber.  The  great  mountains  can  be  crossed  at  a  much 
lower  altitude  and  with  better  grade  than  on  the  Central ; 
and  the  cost  of  grading  the  entire  road  will  not  much  ex- 
ceed two-thirds  the  cost  of  grading  the  other.  I  would  re- 
gard it  as  a  safe  estimate  that  the  cost  of  the  road  per  mile 
will  be  fully  twenty  per  cent,  less  than  that  of  the  Central. 
One  of  the  essential  advantages  of  the  Northern  route 
is  its  climate.  The  Big-Hole  Pass,  regarded  as  the  great- 
est obstacle  in  winter,  is  now  traveled  by  teams  all  seasons 
of  the  year;  and  the  testimony  of  old  residents,  who  have 
traversed  the  mountains  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  is  that 
the  snow  is  not  a  serious  impediment  on  the  proposed  line. 
Captain  Mullan,  who  opened  the  wagon-road  to  the  Pacific, 
and  wintered  in  the  mountains,  says,  in  his  official  report, 
that  "  the  snow  will  offer  no  great  obstacle  to  travel  with 


SUCCESSION  OF  HOT  SPRINGS.  405 

horses  or  locomotives  from  the  Missouri  to  the  Columbia." 
On  the  continuous  line  of  valleys  from  the  Yellowstone  to 
Missoula — nearly  one-third  the  distance  of  the  entire  line, 
and  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains — stock  is  grazed  every 
winter  without  hay  or  feed.  The  buffalo  migrates  north 
to  the  sweeter  grasses  and  more  salubrious  climate  of  the 
Yellowstone,  and  Missoula  raises  the  earliest  and  finest 
vegetables  of  any  of  the  mountain-valleys,  and  is  now  grow- 
ing fruit  under  the  very  frowns  of  the  Bitter  Root  and 
Rocky  ranges.  The  base  of  the  mountains  on  this  line 
has  the  same  mean  temperature  as  is  found  on  the  Missouri, 
seven  degrees  farther  south.  Hot  springs  abound  on  almost 
all  the  waters  in  this  region.  The  Madison  has  a  school 
of  boiling  geysers  for  its  source.  They  fling  their  columns 
up  from  thirty  to  eighty  feet  in  the  air,  and  soften  the  at- 
mosphere for  miles  around  and  for  an  incredible  distance 
along  its  course.  The  Yellowstone  has  many  such  springs, 
of  varied  temperatures,  emptying  into  its  waters.  I  have 
found  these  hot  springs  in  every  valley ;  and  their  effect 
upon  the  climate  is  wonderful.  Captain  Mullan,  speaking 
of  them,  says,  "  On  either  side,  north  and  south,  are 
walls  of  cold  air,  and  which  are  so  clearly  perceptible  that 
you  always  detect  the  river  when  you  are  on  its  shores." 
A  writer  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly"  describes  these  cur- 
rents as  "  a  river  of  hot  wind,  which  is  not  only  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  the  climatology  of  the  conti- 
nent, but  which  is  destined  to  have  a  great  bearing  upon 
the  civilization  of  this  portion  of  the  continent.  They 
sweep  through  the  passes  with  the  precision  and  regularity 
of  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  Atlantic. "  Thus,  while  the  passes 
in  the  British  Possessions,  where  these  currents  are  not 
known,  are  closed  by  snow  in  winter,  the  passes  on  the 
line  of  the  Northern  route  seldom  present  over  two  feet  of 
snow  to  contend  with. 

35* 


406      INCALCULABLE  DEVELOPMENT   OF    WEALTH. 

There  is  another  consideration   that  should  determine 
the  action  of  the  government  in  favor  of  the  construction 
of  this  road.     It  is  the  incalculable  development  of  ma- 
terial and  permanent  wealth  it  must  effect.     I  have  trav- 
ersed  the   chief  valleys   of  Montana,   from  the   eastern 
extremity  of  the  Gallatin  to  the  western  extremity  of  the 
Deer  Lodge,  and  saw  them  when  their  rich  harvest  was 
ready  for  the  reaper.     I  have  tasted  the  luscious  fruits  of 
Missoula,  still  farther  west,  and  heard  the  reports  of  those 
who  have  explored  the  Yellowstone  in  all  seasons  of  the 
year.     The  fruitfulness  of  these  valleys,  with  the  rudest 
cultivation,  would  be  accepted  by  most  Eastern  readers  as 
a  romance,  if  truthfully  portrayed.     The  country  from  St. 
Paul  to  the  Missouri,  on  a  western  line,  is  well  known; 
and  from  the  Missouri  to  the  Yellowstone,  on  the  same  line, 
there  are  few  obstacles  to  a  railroad ;  while  valuable  farm- 
ing-lands and  timber  are  found  most  of  the  way.     From 
the  point  where  the  Yellowstone  is  reached,  it  would  seem 
that  Nature  had  marked  out  this  great  highway  to  the 
Pacific.     Before  the  fertile  plains  and  rich  mines  of  Mon- 
tana were  known,  it  was  supposed  that  the  railroad  must 
run  north  of  the  Missouri  to  Fort  Benton ;  but  no  such 
route  can  be  contemplated  now.    The  Yellowstone  Valley, 
the  richest  and  most  genial  of  any  east  of  Missoula,  can 
be  followed  to  the  Gallatin  divide,  which  can  be  crossed 
at   such   a   grade   as   is   not   now   considered   excessive. 
Then  the  route  runs  down  through  the  fruitful  farms  of 
the  Gallatin  Valley  to  the  head  of  the  Missouri,  when 
it  crosses  to  the  Jefferson  Valley  and  ascends  through 
prosperous  settlements  to  its  head,  where  lines  of  agri- 
cultural communities  spread  out  on  the   Stinking  Water 
and  Beaverhead.    Thence  it  ascends  the  Big  Hole  Valley, 
following  the  water-grade  of  the   river,  until   the  sum- 
mit of  the   Rocky  range  is  attained  almost  impercepti- 
bly, with  pioneers  already  near  neighbors  on  both  sides. 


CHANGES   TN  PRESENT  CENTRES   OF  TRADE.      401 

From  the  summit  the  magnificent  Deer  Lodge  Valley 
opens,  and  descends  by  easy,  regular  grade  for  one  hun- 
dred miles,  with  large  herds  and  fine  farms  dotting  it  from 
one  end  to  the  other.  I  do  not  pretend  to  sufficient  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  to  indicate  the  line  west  of  Deer  Lodge 
Valley ;  but  it  must  cross  the  luxuriant  Missoula  Valley, 
and  thence  mainly  follow  the  waters  to  the  Western  Sea. 
Competent  men  differ  as  to  the  route ;  but  all  agree  that 
it  need  not  be  circuitous  or  difficult.  Thus  for  hundreds 
of  miles,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  will  pass  through  the  most  pro- 
ductive valleys  of  the  continent,  and  rear  State  after  State, 
with  swarming  populations  and  boundless  wealth,  to  give 
prosperity  and  power  to  the  Union.  Unlike  the  sterile, 
repulsive  mountains  on  the  Central  route,  the  valleys  of 
Montana  will  send  to  the  markets  of  the  East  and  West 
the  rich  offerings  of  their  fields  and  mines;  and  one  of  our 
chief  sources  of  productive  greatness  will  be  here,  where 
but  a  few  years  ago  the  savage  ruled  the  Northern  wilder- 
ness and  plains. 

This  great  improvement  will  revolutionize  the  present 
centres  of  trade  in  the  mountain-regions ;  and  the  future 
metropolis  of  Montana  commerce  is  now  marked  by  but  a 
few  widely-scattered  cabins.  Helena,  the  present  chief 
mart  of  business,  will  be  isolated  and  left  to  depend  upon 
its  local  interests.  Virginia  City  will  also  be  off  the  great 
highway,  and  localized  in  its  traffic  even  more  than  now. 
Fort  Benton  will  recede  to  a  mere  frontier  military-post, 
and  a  few  straggling  steamers  will  land  there  to  supply 
the  soldiers  and  the  settlers  on  the  river.  The  centre  of 
trade  will  gravitate  to  the  Gallatin  Valley,  and  it  will  be 
the  depot  for  the  North,  whence  light  boats  will  transport 
from  the  railroad  to  the  falls  above  Benton.  Goods  can 
be  shipped  up  the  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  to  the  rail- 
road, without  encountering  the  perils  of  the  Upper  Mis- 


408       THE   CROWNING   PRIDE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

souri,  and  the  head  of  navigation  will  be  practically  where 
the  railroad  crosses  the  Yellowstone.  No  commerce  will 
pass  above  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone,  excepting  what 
the  posts  and  few  pioneers  on  the  river  may  demand;  and 
the  Upper  Missouri  will  be  left  to  its  alternating  angry 
surges  and  low  waters  for  ages  to  come.  From  the  Yel- 
lowstone steamers  will  ascend  the  Big  Horn  to  supply 
the  future  settlements  of  Big  Horn  and  Wind  River  Val- 
leys, where  the  most  fertile  lands  and  valuable  mineral 
deposits  are  found ;  and  they  in  turn  will  pour  out  their 
streams  of  wealth  to  the  railroad.  The  now  immense 
lumber-trade  of  the  Mississippi,  which  has  all  the  region 
west  of  its  waters  and  east  of  the  mountains  to  supply, 
will  be  narrowed  down  to  its  own  natural  boundaries; 
while  the  Missouri  and  the  railroad  will  bear  the  fine 
timber  of  Eastern  Montana  to  cheapen  improvement  in 
Nebraska  and  Western  Iowa.  Mining-camps,  now  called 
cities,  will  fade  from  the  maps  as  progress  reverses  primi- 
tive settlements  into  permanent  channels,  and  the  future 
capital  of  the  future  Golden  State  will  overlook  the  union 
of  the  waters  of  the  mountain-valleys,  as  they  mingle  in 
soft  murmurs  in  the  sinuous  course  of  the  Missouri. 

If  18 TO  shall  see  the  locomotive  sweep  from  Omaha  to 
San  Francisco,  1871  should  hear  its  shrill  song  rever- 
berate over  the  plains  and  through  the  mountains  from 
St.  Paul  to  Puget  Sound ;  and  while  the  Central  will  be 
hastening  its  share  of  travel  and  freight  across  the  New 
World,  the  growing  tide  of  trade  will  sweep  through 
these  rich  valleys  until  every  nation  shall  pay  tribute  to 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad.  It  will  bring  not  only  the 
matchless  wealth  of  the  new  Northwest,  but  the  commerce 
of  the  ancient  empires  will  pass  us  as  it  seeks  the  Eastern 
cities  and  Europe  toward  the  rising  instead  of  the  setting 
sun ;  and  the  crowning  pride  of  the  Republic  will  be  this 
great  artery  of  national  and  commercial  life. 


LETTER    XLIY. 

Amusements  at  the  Capital.  — The  Theatre. — Mingling  of  Pleasure 
and  Business. — The  Legislature. — Their  Laws. — Committee  to 
render  the  Laws  intelligible. — How  the  Gordian  Knot  was  cut. 
— Organization  of  the  Third  House. — A  Burlesque  Legislature. 
— The  Contest  for  Page. — Interesting  Educational  Statistics. — 
The  Courts. — Fines  enforced. — The  Jurors  whittling  on  Duty. — 
Official  Receptions. — The  Bachelor  Secretary  draws  Lots  for  a 
Fair  Partner. — The  Hurdy-Gurdy. — An  Invitation  to  dance. — 
The  Indian  Question. — The  Delusive  Report  of  Peace. — The 
Folly  of  Indian  Treaties  in  the  Fall. — Treaties  made  by  Indians 
to  enable  them  to  renew  Hostilities. — The  West  must  have 
Peace. — How  it  is  to  be  attained. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  December  6,  1867. 
I  HAVE  had  a  truce  of  a  week  with  the  mountains  and 
mines,  and  devoted  it  to  the  sights,  the  fashions,  the 
amusements  and  social  enjoyments  of  the  capital.  The 
theatre,  under  the  direction  of  the  jolly  Langrishe,  has 
been  running  clever  audiences.  Ingomar  has  illustrated 
to  the  accomplished  circles  of  Virginia  the  ways  and  tastes 
of  the  barbarian.  Claude  Melnotte  has  confirmed  the  old 
adage  that  the  course  of  true  love  does  not  always  run 
smooth.  Pretty  much  everybody  goes  to  the  theatre ;  and 
the  "Pony,"  just  opposite,  clears  the  cobwebs  out  of  the 
throats  of  the  people  between  the  acts.  Pleasure  and  busi- 
ness are  happily  mingled  in  Western  life.  Wrhen  the  cur- 
tain falls  the  glasses  rise,  and  are  emptied  between  social 
greetings  and  commercial  contracts.  At  the  "  Pony"  may 
be  seen  the  dignitaries  of  the  Territory  and  city,  the  mem- 

(409) 


410  THE  LEGISLATURE   OF  MONTANA. 

bers  of  the  bar,  the  men  of  business,  and  around  them  the 
inevitable  and  ubiquitous  "bummers, "all  smiling  together, 
and  discussing  Montana  liquors,  Indians,  politics,  and  the 
last  murder  or  prize-fight.  The  legislature  is  also  running, 
and  is  one  of  the  standard  amusements  of  the  city.  They 
pass  bills  as  they  like,  when  they  like,  and  construe  the 
Constitution  and  the  organic  acts  to  suit  every  exigency  as 
it  arises.  They  have  decided  claims  to  originality,  alike  in 
their  orthography  and  in  the  construction  of  sections.  Most 
of  their  laws  have  to  be  reworded  before  they  can  be  in- 
telligently construed  ;  and  then  it  is  not  always  a  possible 
task.  After  three  sessions  had  been  held  in  the  Territory, 
a  commission  was  appointed  to  examine  the  statutes  they 
had  enacted,  correct  their  spelling,  and  ascertain  to  what 
extent  they  were  unintelligible  or  in  conflict  with  the  or- 
ganic act  or  with  each  other.  The  commission  waded 
through  the  duty  assigned  them,  with  very  unsatisfactory 
results ;  and  one  of  the  board  finally  cut  the  Gordian  knot 
by  persuading  Congress  to  annul  the  laws.  The  present 
legislature  has,  therefore,  turned  a  new  leaf,  and  must  go 
over  all  the  old  ground,  as  the  people  of  the  Territory — or 
rather  the  controlling  portion  of  them — demand  that  the 
legislature  shall  now  annul  the  act  of  Congress  by  re-enact- 
ing the  annulled  laws.  As  Congress  pays  them  their 
salaries,  they  are  bothered  how  to  do  it  and  appear  not 
to  do  it ;  and  this  nice  distinction  taxes  the  genius  of  the 
legislature  overmuch.  The  result  is  that  their  forty  days 
are  nearly  out,  and  they  have  done  little  or  nothing.  An 
extraordinary  session  is  now  inevitable,  and  the  city  will 
have  the  legislative  Solons  in  their  midst  for  another  forty 
days.  In  order  to  facilitate  legislation,  a  Third  House  has 
been  organized,  embracing  most  of  the  leading  men  resid- 
ing here.  It  meets  in  the  Representative  Hall,  and  is  pre- 
sided over  by  a  member  of  the  regular  House.  Judge 


A   BURLESQUE  LEGISLATURE.  411 

Williston,  Major  Bruce,  and  myself  were  put  in  general 
nomination  for  the  office  of  page,  and,  after  an  animated 
contest,  Major  Bruce  was  chosen.  As  he  is  editor  of  the 
Democratic  organ  here,  the  House  was  doubtless  unwilling 
to  incur  his  displeasure,  and  Williston  and  I  think  that  the 
issue  was  controlled  rather  by  the  major's  position  than 
by  the  merits  of  the  several  aspirants.  Senator  Orr,  who 
missed  the  Governorship  of  Missouri  because  "  the  other 
fellow"  got  the  most  votes,  is  acting  as  Executive  of  the 
auxiliary  government;  and  he  delivered  an  elaborate  mes- 
sage, after  which  he  served  in  the  capacity  of  a  legislator. 
I  noticed  particularly  his  statistics  on  the  subject  of  educa- 
tion, gathered  from  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  In- 
struction, who  signed  his  mark  to  the  document.  He  re- 
ports the  number  of  children,  of  all  colors,  admitted  to  the 
schools  at  thirty-seven  and  a  half;  and  he  gives  the  number 
preparing  to  graduate  for  the  gallows,  the  penitentiary,  and 
the  legislature  as  exactly  the  same  number  to  the  fraction. 
The  notices  of  bills,  resolutions  considered,  and  reports 
from  committees  were  decidedly  entertaining;  and  wit  and 
jest,  often  more  pungent  than  chaste,  had  the  largest  license, 
and  took  the  utmost  liberty  with  names  and  reputations. 
Then  we  have  the  courts,  another  unfailing  source  of 
amusement,  where  legal  gladiators  play  fastastic  tricks 
before  the  shade  of  Blackstone.  At"  the  last  row  among 
the  members  of  the  bar,  the  judge  took  a  hand  so  far  as  to 
fine  one  of  the  belligerents  ten  dollars,  and  followed  it  up 
by  fining  a  remiss  juror  fifteen  dollars.  One  of  the  tip- 
staves will  probably  come  in  next  for  a  fine  of  twenty-five 
dollars:  so  that  the  thing  is  getting  gradually  under  way. 
The  jurors  complained  this  week  that  they  could  not 
get  suitable  sticks  to  whittle;  and  the  deputy  sheriff  now 
1  msses  a  soft  pine  board  along  the  jury  as  soon  as  they 
are  sworn,  and  each  one  spirts  off  a  piece  corresponding 
with  his  appetite  in  that  line. 


412  ^.V  INVITATION  TO   DANCE. 

We  have  also  the  levees  or  receptions  every  week  by 
the  Governor  and  other  officials.  They  are  popularly 
known  as  " levels,"  or  ''deceptions,"  and  since  they  have 
been  so  denominated  they  draw  well.  Last  night  Secre- 
tary Tufts  gave  his  "level;"  and,  as  he  is  a  bachelor,  the 
question  of  selecting  a  fair  partner  to  accompany  him  in 
state  became  a  very  serious  one.  In  order  to  avoid  in- 
vidious distinctions,  he  drew  lots,  and  won  the  Governor's 
wife,  who  promptly  accepted  and  graced  the  occasion  with 
her  presence  and  smiles.  I  borrowed  a  "  boiled  shirt," 
after  much  tribulation  on  account  of  my  "  heft,"  and 
plunged  in  with  a  Byron  collar  and  polished  boots, — and 
also  the  other  necessary  apparel.  Over  two  hundred  peo- 
ple were  in  attendance,  nearly  one-half  of  them  ladies,  and 
they  tripped  the  light  fantastic  toe  until  the  "wee  sma' 
hours"  admonished  them  that  it  was  time  to  disperse. 

Nor  does  our  list  of  amusements  end  with  dances  in 
honor  of  our  officials.  The  "hurdy-gurdy"  still  has 
its  place  in  the  capital,  and  on  the  most  public  corner 
of  the  city.  It  has  lost  much  of  its  old-time  spirit,  and 
will  soon  be  only  of  the  past.  I  visited  one  for  the  first 
time,  recently.  Four  girls,  about  fifty  men,  an  Irish  fiddler, 
a  bar-keeper,  and  a  bar,  constituted  the  outfit.  The  gents 
were  charged  fifty  cents  each  for  a  dance  with  the  fair 
damsels,  and  after  the  dance  they  were  required  to  pay  a 
like  sum  at  the  bar  for  drinks  for  themselves  and  partners. 
I  noticed  that  the  girls  were  as  prompt  at  the  bar  as  they 
were  on  the  floor.  Money  is  scarce  among  the  miners, 
and  it  was  at  times  difficult  for  the  "  last  best  gift"  to  get 
the  set  made  up.  They  would  pass  through  the  crowd 
exhausting  their  powers  of  persuasion  to  get  the  sterner 
sex  to  participate.  One — not  fair,  but  fat  and  forty — insisted x 
that  I  should  join  in  the  festivities  of  the  occasion;  but  I 
modestly  declined,  saying  that  I  never  danced,  to  which 


THE  HURDY-GURDY.  413 

she  replied,  with  the  bewitching  air  of  the  sex,  "  D n 

it,  doii't  tell  me  you  don't  dance ;  I've  saw  you  dance  forty 
times."  There  I  was,  with  a  borrowed  white  shirt  on, 
and  liable  to  be  taken  for  anybody  but  myself;  so  I  did  not 
deny  the  soft  impeachment,  lest  I  should  fail  to  persuade 
my  tender  accuser  of  my  proper  identity,  but  declined  all 
controversy  on  the  subject.  She  then  squared  herself  in 
the  middle  of  the  room,  and  extended  a  general  invitation, 
saying,  "  I'd  like  to  see  the  color  of  the  fellow's  hair  who'll 
dance  with  me."  A  long,  lank  miner,  with  unkempt  beard, 
sporting  a  cigar  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  toward 
his  nose,  accepted  the  challenge,  and  the  dance  went  on  as 
I  went  out. 

A  few  years  ago,  when  Alder  Gulch  was  yielding 
thousands  of  dollars  daily  from  the  placer- mines,  the 
hurdy-gurdy  was  the  great  institution  of  the  mining- 
camps.  Virginia  then  had  half  a  dozen  regular  houses  of 
the  kind  open  nightly ;  and,  as  men  were  more  numerous 
ftere  then  than  now,  and  women  not  so  plenty,  a  dollar  in 
dust  was  freely  paid  for  the  pleasure  of  a  dance  with  any- 
thing that  could  lay  just  claims  to  female  apparel.  Nor 
did  the  abandoned  only  attend  them.  It  was  not  uncom- 
mon for  virtuous  women,  whose  husbands  had  not  been 
fortunate  in  the  mines,  to  go  occasionally  to  provide  them- 
selves with  the  necessaries  of  life ;  and,  rough  as  the 
mining-population  was  at  that  day,  they  always  treated 
with  proper  respect  such  frequenters  of  the  hurdy-gurdy, 
and  made  it  a  point  to  contribute  liberally  to  their  wants. 
At  that  time  a  dance  in  a  hurdy-gurdy  was  good  for  a  "  clean 
up"  in  the  morning  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars  in 
gold-dust,  by  panning  out  the  sweepings  from  the  floor. 
Dust  was  the  only  circulating  medium ;  and,  as  the  party 
would  get  hilarious  over  the  dance  and  beer,  the  gold-dust 
would  be  scattered  rather  promiscuously  in  making  pay- 

36 


414  DELUSIVE  REPORT  OF  PEACE. 

ments.  Gambling,  prostitution,  dancing,  and  drinking 
were  sometimes  combined  in  one  establishment ;  and,  when 
it  is  considered  that  the  miners  had  then  no  other  places  of 
resort  for  amusement,  it  is  not  surprising  that  few  of  them 
saved  any  of  their  earnings.  But  the  days  of  the  hurdy- 
gurdy  are  gone,  and  gone  forever,  in  this  region.  Only  here 
and  there  sickly,  spiritless  caricatures  of  it  remain ;  and  they 
will  soon  fade  away  before  the  progress  of  civilization. 

The  people  of  the  West  learn  from  the  Eastern  papers 
that  the  Indian  war  is  over, — that  it  has  been  happily  con- 
cluded by  treaties  made  by  General  Sherman.  Strange 
indeed  is  it  that  intelligent  people  in  the  States  believe 
such  silly  statements,  and  approve  of  the  fatal  folly  of  the 
commanders,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  same  farce 
has  been  repeated  every  year  since  the  whites  have  peopled 
the  Plains.  Every  year  we  have  had  a  war,  and  every 
year  a  treaty.  Several  effectual  treaties  have  been  made 
in  the  last  ten  years,  but  the  government  makes  no  more 
of  the  kind.  General  Conner  forged  one  out  by  his  artil- 
lery at  Bear  River,  and  made  the  Bannocks  peaceable,  be- 
cause the  few  who  survived  were  too  feeble  to  fight.  Gen- 
eral Harney  did  the  same  thing  at  Elk  Horn ;  and  Colonel 
Chivington  repeated  it,  only  a  little  more  so,  at  Sand 
Creek.  No  Indians  who  have  had  war  from  earnest  and 
competent  commanders  have  been  willing  to  renew  hostili- 
ties ;  but  all  the  hostile  tribes  know  that  the  present  com- 
manders take  much  more  care  of  the  savages  than  they  do 
of  the  whites,  and  they  rob  and  murder  without  fear  of 
consequences.  All  they  desire  is  that  regular  troops  oc- 
cupy the  West,  and  war  is  the  most  profitable  enterprise 
they  can  embark  in. 

During  the  last  three  years  we  have  had  war,  on  a  lari>-e 
or  small  scale,  every  summer,  and  regularly  paid  the  In- 
dians in  the  fall  for  their  atrocities.  The  government  paid 


FOLLY  OF  INDIAN  TREATIES  IN  THE  FALL.      415 

over  two  millions  for  the  Colorado  war,  and  then  paid  the 
Indians  half  a  million  or  so  for  their  losses, — thus  carry- 
ing on  the  war  on  both  sides.  In  1865  the  savages  raided 
the  Platte  from  Denver  almost  to  the  Missouri,  and,  in  the 
spring  of  1866,  General  Sherman  passed  by  the  charred 
walls  of  the  murdered  settlers'  cabins,  and  their  rude 
graves,  and  reported  that  the  Indians  were  not  hostile,  and 
had  not  been  so,  excepting  when  provoked  to  it  by  the 
whites.  He  declared  that  there  were  no  tribes  at  war; 
and  he  proceeded  to  make  a  treaty  giving  the  Indians  arms 
and  ammunition,  with  which  they  immediately  went  to 
war  again.  Next  they  butchered  his  Phil.  Kearney  garri- 
son, and  have  murdered  hundreds  of  settlers  and  emigrants 
last  summer,  often  in  sight  of  his  troops,  and  stolen  or  de- 
stroyed millions  of  property ;  but  he  still  insists  that  there 
is  no  war,  'and  has  just  closed  the  campaign  by  another 
treaty,  and  given  them  clothing,  provisions,  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, etc.  to  keep  them  during  the  winter  and  start  them  on 
the  war-path  again  in  the  spring.  He  was  cheated  in  his 
first  effort  at  diplomacy  with  the  savages,  and  has  persisted 
in  his  error,  even  when  every  day  brought  its  mangled 
dead  to  teach  him  his  fatal  mistake.  When  he  was  treating 
with  the  chiefs  of  the  Sioux  at  Laramie,  a  band  of  their  war- 
riors attempted  to  raid  the  Gallatin  Yalley,  but  were  re- 
pulsed by  Colonel  Howie's  volunteers;  and  the  Indians 
had  no  other  motive  in  making  a  treaty  than  to  have  cloth- 
ing, provisions,  arms,  and  ammunition  for  the  winter  and 
to  start  them  in  the  spring.  They  prefer  war  in  the  sum- 
mer, when  they  can  swarm  over  the  plains  and  through 
the  mountains  to  gratify  their  taste  for  plunder  and  ven- 
geance. They  do  not  fear  any  number  of  regular  troops, 
for  they  can  easily  evade  them  when  they  wish  to  do  so, 
and  they  are  always  ready  to  cut  off  small  bodies  in  detail. 
Besides,  every  war  they  make  in  the  summer  results  in 


416  THE    WEST  MUST  HAVE  PEACE. 

ample  supplies  in  the  fall,  when  they  retire  from  their  profit- 
able campaigns  to  winter  in  comfortable  indolence.  In  the 
winter  they  cannot  wage  war.  Their  ponies  are  poor  and 
have  no  feed,  and  they  cannot  depend  upon  supplying  them- 
selves on  the  march.  Any  vigorous,  competent  commander 
would  hunt  them  in  their  villages  now,  and  conquer  them  ; 
but  Sherman  forbids  it.  They  are  therefore  ready  to  make 
a  sham  peace  every  fall,  as  they  have  done  for  years;  and 
the  wrong  has  just  been  repeated,  as  if  the  government 
had  no  other  duties  in  the  West.  The  Indians  are  all  hos- 
tile when  they  dare  be  so.  They  would  be  more  than 
untutored  mortals  if  they  were  otherwise.  They  see  the 
pale-faces  covering  the  plains  and  valleys,  dispersing  their 
game,  and  they  foresee  the  destiny  that  awaits  them, — the 
choice  between  civilization  or  death.  They  are  all  bar- 
barians in  instinct  and  taste.  They  will  not  work,  and  they 
love  to  rob,  torture,  and  kill.  They  have  no  appreciation 
of  faith,  and  make  treaties  just  as  they  spy  an  enemy's 
camp.  They  are  debauched,  degraded,  and  merciless,  and 
they  regard  civilization  as  their  deadly  foe.  He  who  treats 
with  them,  therefore,  after  a  summer  of  hostilities,  is  either 
a  fool  or  a  knave;  and  he  who  knows  and  defends  them  is 
worse  than  both.  Ten  thousand  troops  have  been  west  of 
the  Missouri  the  last  season.  What  has  been  done  ?  The 
Indians  took  special  care  to  murder  and  plunder  in  the  very 
presence  of  the  troops.  What  retribution  has  been  visited 
upon  them  ?  what  lines  have  been  protected  ?  what  lives 
preserved?  Millions  of  money  have  been  expended:  what 
account  can  be  rendered  for  it?  These  are  bitter  words, — 
more  painful  to  me  than  they  can  be  to  any  others ;  but 
they  are  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness.  I  entreat  the 
government  to  recall  the  troops  from  the  West.  With  one 
voice  the  suffering  people  of  the  plains  and  mountains  de- 
sire it.  They  have  submitted  to  military  authority,  and 


HOW  IT  IS   TO   BE  ATTAINED.  417 

sought  to  make  it  effective ;  but  they  have  advised  and 
appealed  in  vain.  Let  the  millions  wasted  last  season  be 
saved,  hereafter,  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  regular  troops, 
and  let  competent  and  honest  officers  be  sent  to  organize 
mountain-troops  when  hostilities  are  commenced  again. 
Colorado  will  gladly  protect  Colorado,  with  one  man  for 
every  ten  Sherman  has  there ;  Montana  will  protect  Mon- 
tana in  like  manner ;  and  there  will  be  no  war,  if  the  In- 
dians must  brave  the  pioneers.  There  will  be  peace ;  for 
then  there  must  be  peace  or  death.  Soon  railroads  will 
traverse  the  now  crimsoned  plains,  and  settlers  and  miners 
will  force  out  the  slumbering  wealth  hitherto  sacrificed  to 
savagery,  and  safety  and  prosperity  will  bless  the  noble 
people  of  the  Great  West.* 

*  General  Sheridan  has  made  some  equally  effective  treaties  re- 
cently, by  decisive  battles,  and  there  is  now  some  prospect  of  peace 
for  the  West. 


36* 


LETTER    XLY. 

Holiday  in  the  Kocky  Mountains. — A  Genial  Christmas-Day. — 
Sumptuous  Dinners  and  a  Jolly  Dance. — The  Ball. — New- Year's 
Day.— A  Field-Day  of  Frolic.— The  First  Call.— The  Egg-nog 
analyzed.  —Hospitality  of  the  Capital. — The  Babies. — A  Prize- 
Fight  in  the  House  of  ^Representatives. — "Teddy"  and  "Chick" 
have  a  "Mill." — Con.  Orem  seconds  Teddy,  and  wins,  after  a 
Protracted  Contest.— A  Kow  in  the  King.—"  Teddy"  the  Hero 
of  the  Theatre  and  the  "Pony."— The  Evening  Supper.— The 
Professor's  Speech. 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERR.,  January  4,  1868. 
HOLIDAYS  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  are  the  most  festive 
of  all  our  festive  occasions.  Dull  care  is  thrown  far  in  the 
background,  and  business  is  subordinated  to  social  and 
general  enjoyment.  Christmas  was  one  of  the  balmiest 
days  I  ever  witnessed  in  any  climate.  I  sat  most  of  the 
day  in  an  office  with  the  windows  and  doors  open ;  and 
fire  would  have  been  uncomfortable.  The  air  was  as  soft 
as  Eastern  spring,  and  the  sun  shone  out  upon  the  hills  and 
cliffs  with  such  warmth  as  to  start  their  winter  crowns  of 
snow  in  murmuring  streamlets  down  their  rugged  sides. 
The  city  was  gay  throughout.  The  mines  had  poured 
forth  their  sturdy  men  to  have  a  holiday  frolic,  and  "  The 
Pony"  (the  chief  saloon)  had  crowded  tables  from  early 
morn  until  the  "  wee  sma'  hours"  told  that  another  Christ- 
mas had  departed.  The  street-auctions  were  unusually 
lively ;  the  stores  were  swarming  with  customers  of  all 
(418) 


THE  BALL.  419 

classes,  from  the  unshorn  and  unshaven  mountaineer  to 
the  fashionable  belle  ;  the  "  sports"  had  their  lively  games, 
and  billiards  attracted  nearly  all  the  dignitaries  of  state  to 
try  their  skill.  Sumptuous  dinners  were  spread  in  various 
uninviting-looking  shanties,  and  fair  hands  and  fascinating 
faces  inside  made  guests  forget  the  rude  architecture  that 
encircled  them.  In  the  evening  mine  host,  Chapin,  of  the 
Planters',  gave  a  ball,  and  one  hundred  jolly  people  re- 
sponded. Tickets  were  twenty  dollars  each  ;  but  the  sup- 
ply was  unequal  to  the  demand.  A  second  floor  over  one  of 
the  large  store-rooms  was  fitted  up  most  tastefully  for  the 
occasion.  Evergreens  and  flowers  were  festooned  around 
the  walls,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  hung  in  graceful  folds 
over  the  orchestra.  For  the  first  time  in  the  Far  West  I 
found  nearly  as  many  ladies  as  gentlemen  at  the  ball ;  but 
they  varied  rather  more  in  their  ages  than  is  usual  in 
Eastern  gatherings  of  the  kind.  Young  misses  often  and 
twelve  years  not  unfrequently  aided  to  fill  up  the  dance, 
and,  as  a  rule,  did  their  part  very  well ;  while  my  partner 
in  the  only  active  participation  I  had  in  the  ball  (the 
promenade  to  supper)  was  a  grandmother  who  owned  to 
nearly  sixty  winters.  She  was,  like  all  Western  ladies, 
fond  of  social  parties,  and  looked  with  just  pride  upon 
her  children  and  grandchildren  as  they  "  tripped  the  light 
fantastic  toe"  to  the  best  of  music.  Supper  came  with  mid- 
night; and  it  would  have  done  credit  to  any  Eastern  town 
of  thrice  our  population.  Oyster  soup  opened  the  course, 
— the  oysters  having  been  shipped  three  thousand  miles. 
Elegant  salads,  delicious  jellies,  game  of  all  kinds,  candies 
manufactured  here  into  temples  and  monuments,  almost 
every  variety  of  fruits,  and  sparkling  wines,  combined  to 
tempt  the  appetite ;  and  a  jollier  party  I  never  saw  sit  down 
to  a  repast.  While  there  was  a  freedom  from  the  severe 


420  NEW-YEAR'S  DAY. 

exactions  of  social  rules  in  the  East,  there  was  the  most 
scrupulous  care  on  the  part  of  all  to  restrain  social  freedom 
within  the  bounds  of  propriety.  After  an  hour  at  the 
table,  the  middle-aged  portion  of  the  party  returned  to  the 
ball-room,  while  the  old  folks  and  little  ones  retired  to 
their  homes.  Altogether,  it  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
gatherings  I  have  ever  witnessed ;  and  it  was  enjoyed  by 
most  of  the  company  as  only  Western  people  can  enjoy 
social  parties.  With  all  the  freedom  of  Western  life,  I 
have  never  seen  a  man  intoxicated  at  a  ball  or  other  social 
meeting ;  and  the  sincere  cordiality  evinced  by  the  ladies 
to  each  other  would  be  an  improvement  on  the  more  culti- 
vated customs  of  the  East. 

Between  Christmas  and  New- Year  the  city  was  unusu- 
ally lively.  The  streets  were  gay  with  beauty  and  fashion, 
and  in  the  evening  merry  music  and  the  dance  were  always 
to  be  found  under  some  of  the  many  hospitable  roofs  of  the 
town.  Colonel  Beidler  was  here,  having  a  good  time 
visiting  old  friends ;  and  Colonel  Howie  was  also  among 
the  guests,  enjoying  the  festivities  of  the  capital.  We  spent 
many  pleasant  hours,  during  leisure  afternoons,  hearing 
Colonels  Sanders,  Beidler,  Howie,  Hall,  and  others  fight 
over  again  the  desperate  battles  they  had  had  to  give  order 
and  safety  the  victory  over  organized  crime. 

Finally  New- Year's  morning  dawned  upon  the  little 
mountain-capital ;  and  it  was  by  general  consent  laid  out 
for  a  field-day  of  frolic.  A  party,  embracing  the  heads  of 
Church  and  State, — Bishop,  Executive,  Chief  Justice, 
Secretary,  Marshal,  Professor,  and  some  others  of  us  who 
classed  as  high-privates, — started  out  to  inaugurate  New- 
Year  calls.  We  naturally  enough  first  paid  our  respects 
to  the  family  of  one  of  the  distinguished  officials,  and  found 
that  our  call  was  not  unexpected.  A  huge  bowl  of  foam- 


THE  BABIES.  421 

ing  egg-nog  was  set  out  on  the  centre-table ;  and  we  were 
made  welcome,  and  accepted  accordingly.  We  spent  half 
an  hour  or  so  with  the  fair  hostess,  when  the  professor  de- 
cided, from  the  confusion  of  tongues,  that  an  analysis  of  the 
beverage  was  a  necessity ;  and,  after  a  careful  and  scientific 
investigation,  he  reported  that  the  egg-nog  consisted  of 
three  gallons  of  whisky,  one  egg,  and  a  little  cream.  I  can 
vouch  for  the  bishop  retiring  in  as  good  order  as  he  came ; 
but  of  the  others,  including  the  writer,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  speak.  There  was  some  inexplicable  confusion  in  fitting 
our  hats  as  we  started ;  but  it  may  be  explained  by  the  very 
thin  air  of  the  mountains  flying  to  our  heads.  We  did  not 
get  over  half  the  city  until  the  walking  became  very  hard 
for  our  party,  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  streets,  and 
other  causes ;  and  it  was  found  impossible  to  conclude  the 
calls  on  foot.  A  few  inches  of  snow  had  fallen  the  day 
before,  and  Colonel  Beidler,  always  ready  for  an  emergency, 
called  out  a  four-horse  team  and  sled,  in  which  we  com- 
pleted the  New- Year  calls.  It  was  not  so  difficult  to  get 
from  house  to  house,  but  it  was  very  tedious  and  tiresome 
getting  in  and  out  of  the  sleigh  so  often, — so  much  so,  in- 
deed, that  several  of  the  party  turned  up  missing  on  final 
roll-call.  We  had  many  a  song  and  many  a  speech,  and 
the  jingling  of  glasses  told  of  the  gushing  hospitality  that 
welcomed  the  party  at  every  house.  The  chief  justice 
gave  a  story  and  a  song,  and  was  gravely  lectured  because 
there  was  no  baby  in  the  house.  Neither  host,  nor  host- 
ess, nor  distinguished  guest,  received  the  lavish  compli- 
ments of  the  season  that  were  given  to  the  future  states- 
men and  mothers  of  the  mountains  now  boasting  of  swad- 
dling clothes.  One  not  yet  a  week  old  received  the  hom- 
age of  the  distinguished  party,  as  the  nurse  guarded  the 
cradle  with  mingled  devotion  and  pride.  Several  were 


422  A   PRIZE-FIGHT. 

christened  in  the  round, — not  by  the  bishop  in  an  official 
way,  but  in  most  instances  with  Biblical  names. 

At  last  the  team  was  brought  up  before  the  hall  used 
by  the  House  of  Representatives.  Colonel  Beidler  was 
sitting  with  the  driver,  and>  with  a  merry  twinkle  of  the 
eye,  he  said,  "  Fun  ahead,  boys:  let's  have  a  hand  at  it;" 
and  he  called  our  attention  to  &  rude  placard  on  the  door, 
stating  that  a  sparring-match  would  come  off  at  about 
that  time.  "All  hands  come  in,"  said  the  colonel;  and  he 
looked  especially  for  the  bishop.  "Just  a  little  fun  in  the 
manly  art,"  he  added;  but  the  bishop  pleaded  an  engage- 
ment, and,  with  a  kind  farewell  and  a  pleasant  bow,  he  left 
us.  The  legislature  had  adjourned,  and  the  hall  of  the 
House  had  been  converted  into  a  regular  ring :  the  floor 
was  covered  with  several  inches  of  sawdust,  a  circle  of  rude 
board  seats  had  been  thrown  around  the  ring,  and  what 
I  supposed  to  be  a  sparring-match  was  to  be  exhibited 
at  the  moderate  price  of  one  dollar  a  head.  "It's  to  be  a 
square  fight,  and  there  will  be  fun,"  said  Beidler ;  but  still 
I  did  not  comprehend  the  entertainment  to  which  we  were 
invited.  After  the  Orem  and  Dwyer  fight,  the  legislature 
had  passed  a  law  forbidding  public  exhibitions  of  the 
manly  art,  unless  the  contestants  wore  gloves, — intending, 
of  course,  that  the  heavily-padded  boxing-gloves  should  be 
used.  Upon  entering  the  hall,  there  was  every  indication 
of  serious  business  on  hand.  A  ring,  some  fifteen  feet  in 
diameter,  was  formed,  and  in  it  were  four  men.  In  one  cor- 
ner was  Con.  Orem,  stripped  to  his  under-shirt,  with  an 
assortment  of  bottles,  sponges,  etc.;  and  by  his  side  was 
sitting  a  little,  smooth-faced  fellow,  wrapped  in  a  blanket, 
looking  like  anything  else  than  a  hero  of  the  prize-ring. 
He  answered  to  the  euphonious  title  of  "  Teddy,"  although 
English-born,  and  weighed  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 


"TEDDY"   AND   "CHICK."  423 

pounds.  In  the  opposite  corner  was  a  sluggish-looking 
Hibernian,  probably  ten  pounds  heavier  than  "Teddy," 
but  evidently  lacking  the  action  of  his  opponent.  With 
him  was  also  his  second.  He  was  placarded  as  "  The 
Michigan  Chick ;"  and  they  had  met  to  have  a  square  set- 
to,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  ring,  for  one  hundred  dol- 
lars a  side.  Both  had  thin,  close-fitting  buckskin  gloves 
on ;  and  they  were  to  fight  in  that  way,  to  bring  themselves 
within  the  letter  of  the  law.  Packed  in  the  hall  were  over 
one  hundred  of  the  "  roughs"  of  the  mines ;  and  I  confess 
that  I  did  not  feel  comfortable  as  I  surveyed  the  desperate 
countenances  and  the  glistening  revolvers  with  which  I 
was  surrounded.  Regarding  discretion  as  the  better  part 
of  valor,  I  suggested  to  Colonel  Beidler  that  we  had  better 
retire ;  but  he  would  not  entertain  the  proposition  at  all. 
"  Stay  close  by  me,  and  there's  no  danger,"  was  his  reply. 
I  had  seen  almost  every  phase  of  mountain-life  but  a  fight; 
and  I  concluded  that  I  would  see  it  out  and  take  the 
chances  of  getting  away  alive.  My  old  friend  Con.  Orem, 
who  was  to  fight  "  Teddy,"  gave  me  a  comfortable  seat 
close  by  his  corner,  and  reminded  me  that  I  was  about  to 
witness  a  most  artistic  exhibition  of  the  manly  art.  "  Is 
it  to  be  a  serious  fight  ?"  I  asked.  "  You  bet!"  was  Con.'s 
significant  reply.  A  distinguished  military  gentleman  Was 
chosen  umpire,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  called  "time." 
Instantly  "  Teddy"  and  "  Chick"  flung  off  their  blankets 
and  stood  up  in  fighting-trim, — naked  to  the  waist,  and 
clad  only  in  woolen  drawers  and  light  shoes.  "  Teddy" 
stripped  as  delicately  as  a  woman.  His  skin  was  soft  and 
fair,  and  his  waist  was  exceedingly  slender ;  but  he  had  a 
full  chest,  and  when  he  threw  out  his  arms  on  guard  he 
displayed  a  degree  of  muscle  that  indicated  no  easy  vic- 
tory for  his  opponent.  "  Chick"  was  leaner,  but  had  su- 


424  A   ROW  IN  THE  RING. 

perfluous  flesh,  and  was  evidently  quite  young,  as  was 
manifest  when  he  put  himself  in  position  for  action.  He 
betrayed  evident  timidity,  and  was  heavy  in  his  move- 
ments ;  but  he  seemed  to  have  the  physical  power  to  crush 
his  foe  with  one  stroke,  if  he  could  only  get  it  fairly  home 
upon  him.  They  advanced  to  the  centre  when  time  was 
called,  and  shook  hands  with  a  grim  smile  that  was  mu- 
tual, and  the  fight  commenced.  Both  fought  shy  for  a 
considerable  time,  'and  "  Teddy"  soon  gave  evidence  of 
superior  tact  and  training  generally.  "  If  he  only  has  the 
endurance  to  protract  the  fight,  he  will  lam  the  '  Chick' 
certain,  you  bet,"  said  Orem,  while  he  was  bathing  his 
principal  after  the  first  harmless  round.  And  he  was  right. 
Fifty  rounds  were  fought,  and  fully  an  hour  had  been  em- 
ployed in  mauling  each  other's  mugs,  when  both  showed 
evident  symptoms  of  grief,  and  would  have  been  glad  to 
call  it  a  draw ;  but  considerable  money  was  staked,  and 
their  reputation  as  professional  pugilists  was  involved, 
and  they  had  to  go  through  until  one  or  the  other  was 
vanquished.  Soon  after,  the  "  Chick"  got  in  a  fearful  blow 
on  "  Teddy,"  and,  as  he  reeled  to  his  corner,  the  crowd 
evidently  believed  the  fight  to  be  ended.  The  odds  had 
been  bet  oh  "  Teddy,"  and  a  rush  was  made  into  the  ring 
to  break  up  the  fight  in  a  general  row,  so  that  the  bets 
might  be  "declared  off;"  and  instantly  fifty  pistols  clicked 
and  were  drawn,  most  of  which  seemed  to  be  pointed  di- 
rectly at  me.  I  could  not  get  out,  and  could  not  dodge  : 
so  I  had  to  nerve  myself  to  face  the  consequences.  Colonel 
Beidler  at  once  sprang  into  the  ring,  drew  his  revolvers, 
and  declared  that  he  would-  kill  the  first  man  who  at- 
tempted to  interfere  with  the  fight.  All  well  understood 
that  when  Beidler's  pistol  was  drawn  it  meant  business ; 
and  the  ring  was  almost  instantly  cleared,  leaving  him 


THE  EVENING   SUPPER.  425 

standing  alone  in  the  centre.  "Boys,"  said  he,  "this  must 
be  a  fair  fight.  Go  on  with  the  show  I"  and  time  was 
promptly  called  again.  It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for 
"  Teddy"  that  the  interruption  occurred ;  for  it  gave  him 
considerable  time  to  recover  from  the  serious  blow  he  had 
received,  and  he  came  up  to  the  scratch  smiling  again,  but 
fought  thereafter  with  the  greatest  care,  striking  out  only 
when  he  considered  the  blow  certain  to  tell.  I  noticed  that 
he  struck  the  "  Chick"  seventeen  times  on  the  right  eye  in 
seven  rounds,  and  closed  it, — when  he  commenced  pound- 
ing the  left  optic.  "  Chick"  generally  closed  because  of  his 
superior  strength,  and  took  "  Teddy"  in  chancery  fre- 
quently, but  often  with  more  cost  to  his  own  ribs  than 
to  "  Teddy's"  mug.  Finally,  after  a  fight  of  one  hour  and 
forty-two  minutes,  embracing  sixty-seven  rounds,  "  Teddy" 
got  in  a  terrible  blow  over  "  Chick's"  heart,  and  sent  him 
spinning  to  his  corner  like  a  top.  The  sponge  was  at  once 
thrown  up,  and  "  Teddy"  was  victor.  I  went  to  "  Chick's" 
corner,  and  found  him  in  a  most  distressed  condition.  His 
face  was  battered  almost  into  a  jelly,  one  eye  was  entirely 
closed,  and  the  other  nearly  shut.  The  gloves  had  prevented 
the  skin  from  being  cut,  and  he  was  forced  to  seek  relief 
at  once  by  the  free  use  of  the  lance  to  get  the  blood  from 
his  face.  His  nostrils  were  closed  with  clotted  blood, 
and  his  mouth  was  full  of  dark,  thick  blood.  "  I  am  too 
young,"  he  said.  "  I  should  have  known  better.  But  I  will 
whip  him  yet,"  was  his  remark,  as  he  was  led  away  by 
his  friends.  The  crowd  at  once  dispersed  peaceably,  and 
that  night  "  Teddy"  was  the  lion  of  the  theatre,  and  par- 
ticipated in  numerous  drinks  in  honor  of  himself,  at  the 
"  Pony,"  between  acts. 

An  elegant  reunion  supper  at  the  "  Planters'  "  was  the 
next  entertainment ;  and  both  wit  and  wine  sparkled  freely 
while  we  partook  of  the  grateful  mountain-repast.  His 

37 


426  THE  PROFESSOR'S  SPEECH. 

Excellency,  Governor  Green  Clay  Smith,  presided,,  and 
each  in  turn  spoke  as  his  humor  prompted  him.  No  ex- 
cuses were  accepted,  and  each  had  to  take  his  part  in  the 
oratory  of  the  evening.  The  Professor's  speech  was  rather 
of  the  pantomimic  order ;  but,  as  all  knew  what  he  meant 
to  say,  he  was  appreciated  and  generously  applauded. 
Several  brilliant  open-door  parties  closed  the  festivities  of 
New- Year's  Day,  and  none  could  complain  that  there  had 
not  been  a  general  recognition  of  the  Christmas  holidays 
in  the  mountains. 


LETTER    XLY . 

Homeward  bound. — The  Mountain  Cold  Snap. — Preparations  to 
brave  Winter  on  the  Kocky  Range. — A  Jolly  Stage-Coach 
Party.— Kattlesnake  Cliffs.— The  Foot  of  the  Kocky  Range.— 
Crossing  the  Range. — Many  Drivers  and  Stable-Men  frost-bit- 
ten.— Arrival  at  Pleasant  Valley.— The  Temperature  Forty 
Degrees  below  Zero. — The  Landlady  of  the  Station. — A  Fresh 
Morning  Kide. — Several  Upsets  in  the  Snow. — Snake  River 
Valley. — A  more  Moderate  Temperature. — Malade. — The  Jo- 
sephite  Mormons. — Arrival  at  Bear  River. 

BEAR  RIVER,  UTAH  TERR.,  January  10,  1868. 
HOMEWARD-BOUND  at  last !  The  evening  of  the  5th  I 
spent  with  old  mountain-friends,  around  the  hospitable 
board  of  Colonel  Sanders ;  and  the  hours  hurried  by  with 
unwelcome  speed,  as  we  discussed  the  past  and  the  future 
of  the  brave  mountain-people.  I  saved  an  hour  for  a 
quiet  chat  with  Captain  Mills,  at  his  plain  but  ever-in- 
viting table  of  exchanges  ;  and  politics  and  mines  were  for- 
gotten as  we  wandered  back  to  the  familiar  scenes  and 
friends  of  Pennsylvania.  He  is  doing  a  great  work  in 
the  struggle  of  Western  civilization,  and  his  genius  spar- 
kles in  the  columns  of  the  "  Post"  with  a  brilliancy  that 
would  do  credit  to  journalism  in  any  section  of  the  coun- 
try. Midnight  stole  upon  us  unconsciously,  and,  with 
mutual  good  wishes  for  long  life  and  happiness,  I  hurried 
off  to  rest  a  few  hours  before  starting  on  a  winter  stage- 
ride  of  one  thousand  miles  over  the  Rocky  Mountains.  At 
four  in  the  morning  I  was  called  ;  and,  after  a  hasty  break- 

(427) 


428  HOMEWARD    BOUND. 

fast,  the  tedious  work  of  preparing  for  a  struggle  with  the 
terrible  storm-king  of  the  mountains  was  to  be  done.  The 
bright  weather  of  Christmas  had  departed,  and  one  of  the 
"  cold  snaps"  was  upon  us.  The  mercury  was  down  to 
twenty-six  degrees  below  zero  in  Virginia  City;  and  we 
accepted  it  as  an  admonition  that  the  Rocky  range  would 
welcome  us  with  old  Winter's  severest  frost.  Besides, 
the  mountain-roads  might  become  impassable,  and  the 
possibility  of  detention  in  snow-drifts,  with  the  tempera- 
ture from  twenty  to  forty  degrees  below  zero,  made  pas- 
sengers  thoughtful  to  protect  themselves  as  completely  as 
possible.  With  double  woolen  underclothing,  a  heavy 
winter  suit,  a  blanket  overcoat,  a  pair  of  heavy  California 
blankets  fully  half  an  inch  thick  and  large  enough  to  en- 
velop the  whole  body,  an  immense  buffalo  robe,  double 
woolen  socks,  buckskin  moccasins,  and  buffalo  boots,  all 
.carefully  wrapped  in  gunny-sack,  for  the  feet,  I  felt  that 
the  worst  of  winter  storms  might  be  defied.  The  ears, 
face,  and  hands  were  well  protected  by  furs ;  and,  when 
nine  of  us  were  crowded  into  a  mountain-coach,  we  de- 
cided that  Winter  must  play  some  most  fantastic  tricks  to 
conquer  us. 

Just  as  the  first  dim  rays  of  the  god  of  day  were  gild- 
ing the  hoary  mountain-tops,  the  driver  took  his  seat, 
cracked  his  whip,  and  we  whirled  out  of  Yirginia  to 
climb  the  innumerable  cliffs  and  ranges  which  stood  be- 
tween us  and  home.  A  light  coat  of  snow  covered  the 
valleys,  and  the  frost-bound  roads  answered  in  sharp, 
screeching  song  as  the  coach-wheels  crushed  the  ice  be- 
neath us.  Down  through  Nevada  and  Junction  Cities  we 
hurried  along,  until  the  open  valley  of  the  Stinking  Water 
enabled  us  to  turn  south  toward  the  frowning  battlements 
of  mountains  which  lay  across  our  path.  The  sun  had 
reached  nearly  midway  on  his  westward  course ;  but  his 


A   JOLLY  STAGE-COACH  PARTY.  429 

rays  were  too  feeble  to  moderate  the  keen,  sullen  chill  that 
enveloped  us.  There  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  but  the 
atmosphere  was  thick  with  frost,  and  throughout  the  day 
the  sun  was  unfelt.  The  horses  were  whitened  with  the 
frozen  perspiration,  and  their  nostrils  were  covered  with 
ice,  their  warm  breath  congealing  before  it  escaped.  The 
mustaches  and  whiskers  of  the  driver  and  passengers 
were  all  frozen  into  uniform  whiteness.  But  we  had 
started  out  to  face  Winter  in  his  angriest  mood,  and  were 
fully  prepared  for  it.  One  hapless  miner  who  joined  us  at 
Helena  Junction,  and  who  was  but  poorly  clad  for  such  a 
journey,  was  crowded  in  the  middle,  where  our  large  blan- 
kets and  robes  could  envelop  him  in  their  ample  folds. 
A  jollier  party  I  never  traveled  with ;  and,  as  it  had  been 
made  up  to  be  congenial,  we  resolved  that,  let  the  storm 
rage  as  it  might,  we  would  have  a  good  tim,e  as  long  as 
possible,  and  never  borrow  trouble.  The  amiable  Profes- 
sor flanked  me  on  the  left,  to  equalize  my  size  by  his  want 
of  excessive  avoirdupois,  and  his  quiet  jokes,  along  with 
the  rollicking  Irish  lad  of  Western  telegraphs  and  song, 
were  like  the  mellow,  still  wine  after  the  sparkling  cham- 
pagne. A  little  of  the  best  brandy  the  mountains  could 
furnish  was  snugly  stowed  away  in  almost  every  overcoat ; 
and,  as  we  captured  the  station-fires  while  the  horses  were 
exchanged,  bottles  of  bitters  were  passed  around,  and  gen- 
erally accepted  in  moderation. 

About  one  o'clock  we  landed  at  the  first  "home-station," 
at  Beaver-Head  Rock,  and  an  old-fashioned  Eastern  open 
fire  greeted  us  and  made  us  forgetful  of  the  frost,  while  the 
landlady  prepared  us  an  excellent  dinner.  During  the  after- 
noon we  crossed  a  portion  of  the  Beaver-Head  Valley,  and 
found  herds  of  fine  cattle  grazing,  apparently  indifferent  to 
the  severe  snap  of  winter  that  was  upon  them.  The  whole 
day's  journey  presented  nothing  of  special  interest  that  the 

37* 


430  RATTLESNAKE  CLIFFS. 

letters  have  not  already  described,  and  night  brought  us 
to  the  celebrated  Rattlesnake  Cliffs,  on  the  Beaver-Head 
River,  where  we  were  to  rest  until  morning.  The  night 
was  perfectly  clear,  and  the  thick  frosted  atmosphere  of  the 
valleys  had  been  dissipated  as  we  reached  the  foot-hills  of 
the  Rocky  range.  Although  the  mercury  stood  at  thirty 
degrees  below  zero,  I  'took  a  stroll,  in  the  matchless  star- 
light of  the  mountains,  to  look  at  the  towering  walls  of 
seamless  granite  which  almost  hung  over  the  little  cabin 
in  which  we  were  quartered.  The  Beaver-Head  ran  too 
fresh  and  rapid  for  the  ice  to  conquer  it,  and  it  dashed  by 
in  murmuring  melody  to  chill  in  the  embrace  of  Winter  in 
the  valley  below.  In  every  direction  nothing  was  visible 
but  the  rude  cliffs  and  frost-bound  waste  of  the  mountain- 
spurs  ;  and  the  stillness  was  inexpressibly  painful, — not 
even  a  withered  leaf  to  answer  the  soft  stir  of  the  mount- 
ain-breeze; my  own  footsteps  seemed  to  break  harshly 
upon  the  melancholy  solitude  that  reigned  around  me. 
Away  to  the  northwest  the  silver  brightness  of  a  snow- 
capped peak  told  that  the  moon  was  climbing  the  eastern 
slopes  to  fling  a  halo  of  mellowest  beauty  over  the  domes 
of  peerless  white,  and,  as  she  progressed  in  her  steady 
course,  to  scatter  alternate  lights  and  shadows  over  the  con- 
fused ranges  and  winding  ravines  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
A  good  supper  and  a  comfortable  fire  made  us  all  cheer- 
ful, and  the  king  of  song  made  the  little  station-house 
melodious  and  hastened  the  flight  of  the  long  winter 
evening.  By  ten  o'clock  we  were  all  comfortably  in  our 
rude  but  welcome  bed,  consisting  of  robes  and  blankets 
spread  on  the  floor  as  close  to  the  stove  as  we  could  ven- 
ture to  sleep  with  safety.  Before  daylight  we  were  called 
to  prepare  for  breakfast,  and,  after  doing  ample  justice  to 
the  morning  meal  and  rehabilitating  ourselves  in  our  pon- 
derous suits,  we  started  to  climb  the  Rocky  range.  Our 


CROSSING   THE  ROCKY  RANGE.  431 

progress  was  not  rapid,  as  the  hard  hills  and  the  snow  com- 
pelled us  to  make  haste  slowly.  There  was  too  much  snow 
in  many  places  for  the  coach,  and  not  enough  in  other 
places  for  runners.  We  had,  therefore,  to  climb  the  range 
patiently.  The  road  wound  round  the  hills  in  the  most 
tortuous  manner,  and  on  either  side  of  us  the  rocky  cliffs 
towered  thousands  of  feet  above  us.  At  noon  we  reached 
Old  Barrack  Junction,  and  found  a  single-roomed  cabin, 
doing  duty  alternately  as  a  carpenter-shop,  kitchen,  dining- 
room,  and  bed-chamber.  A  tolerable  dinner  was  prepared, 
and  enjoyed  by  the  company ;  but  the  badly-frozen  hands 
of  the  driver  who  should  have  taken  us  on,  was  not  a 
pleasant  reminder  of  the  cold  snaps  of  the  mountains. 
His  fingers  were  swollen  to  thrice  their  natural  propor- 
tions, and,  just  before  we  started,  he  was  coolly  debating 
with  the  landlord  whether  the  fingers  must  be  amputated. 
Our  locomotion  was  sensibly  improved  at  that  point,  by 
our  getting  a  sleigh  in  exchange  for  the  unwieldy  coach; 
but  we  had  to  increase  our  care  to  guard  against  freezing 
our  faces,  ears,  and  hands,  as  we  were  entirely  exposed 
to  the  keen,  stinging  winds  of  the  mountain-summit. 
We  drew  our  robes  over  our  heads,  leaving  but  a  little 
opening  through  which  to  see  out ;  and,  with  that  precau- 
tion, and  carefully  avoiding  to  face  the  wind,  we  got  along 
with  comparative  comfort  and  entire  safety.  The  drivers 
seemed  to  be  indifferent  to  the  fearful  cold  to  which  they 
were  exposed ;  but  they  were  well  protected.  They  wear  a 
full  suit  of  buckskin  underclothing  over  a  like  suit  of 
woolen.  It  preserves  the  heat  of  the  body,  and  is  the 
best  protection  against  the  searching  winds  which  play 
with  pitiless  fury  on  the  mountains.  Th$y  can  readily 
protect  the  face  and  ears  by  furs,  and  the  feet  by  socks, 
moccasins,  buffalo-boots,  and  gunny-sacks  ;  but  their  hands 
are  greatly  exposed,  as  they  cannot  encumber  their  fingers 


432  SNOW-DRIFTS. 

with  clumsy  gloves.  They  always  hold  and  manage  all 
the  lines  with  one  hand,  and  must  have  the  free  use  of 
their  fingers.  They  wear  silk  gloves  next  the  skin,  and 
unlined  buckskin  over  them,  which  constitute  the  best  pro. 
tection  they  can  provide ;  but  it  is  often  inadequate.  In 
four  days'  drive  I  did  not  find  a  single  home-station  where 
there  was  not  some  driver  or  stable-man  who  had  been 
more  or  less  frozen  during  the  last  week.  One  man,  who 
had  to  follow  some  straying  horses,  had  both  his  feet  so 
badly  frozen  that  he  hardly  hoped  to  save  them  from  ampu- 
tation. 

The  afternoon  drive  was  on  the  summit  of  the  Rocky 
range,  and  our  road  was  over  a  succession  of  abrupt  cliffs 
and  deep  snow-drifts.  The  snow  is  as  dry  as  sand,  and  does 
not  beat  down  like  snow  in  the  East.  It  is  so  light  that 
the  least  breeze  drifts  it,  and  it  sweeps  along  in  low  clouds 
and  drops  into  every  ravine  or  depression  it  crosses.  The 
road  is  marked  by  long  willow  branches,  stuck  in  the  snow 
where  drifts  occur ;  and  both  horses  and  driver  understand 
that  the  beaten  track  must  be  closely  kept.  Daily  travel 
packs  it  like  stiff  sand,  and  the  road  can  be  traveled  safely  ; 
but  if  horses  or  sleigh  get  off  the  track  they  plunge  into 
the  unresisting  snow,  and  it  is  often  difficult  to  extricate 
them.  Twice  we  had  to  unhitch  the  whole  team,  to  get 
the  horses  out  of  the  loose  snow  into  the  beaten  road  again. 
At  times  we  went  dashing  over  snow-drifts  as  high  as  the 
telegraph-poles,  and  the  trained  horses  seemed  to  be  intent 
only  on  guarding  against  missing  the  track.  If  one  of 
them  finds  a  foot  sinking,  he  will  jerk  it  up  suddenly  and 
shy  off  toward  his  mate,  and  generally  save  himself.  So 
rapidly  and  continuously  does  the  snow  drift,  that  the  road 
becomes  trackless  in  a  few  minutes  after  a  team  has  passed, 
and,  but  for  the  willows  to  mark  the  way,  travel  would  be 
impossible.  Only  well-trained  horses  can  be  driven  at  all 


ARRIVAL   AT  PLEASANT    VALLEY.  433 

over  the  drifted  portions  of  the  mountains.  Evening 
brought  us  to  the  most  forlorn  station  on  the  whole  mount- 
ain-route ;  and,  as  if  to  teach  the  sublimest  contradiction, 
it  is  called  "  Pleasant  Valley."  I  found  it  better  kept,  how- 
ever, than  in  June  last,  and,  but  for  the  cloudless  but  howl- 
ing storm  that  raged 'about  it,  I  might  have  thought  kindly 
of  it.  It  is  on  the  top  of  the  Rocky  range,  in  what  is 
known  as  Pleasant  Valley  Pass ;  and  near  it  the  head- 
waters of  the  Snake  and  Missouri  Rivers  divide.  The  sta- 
tion is  a  rude  little  cabin,  in  a  deep  ravine,  between  two 
steep  cliffs,  and  the  snow  was  banked  up  in  little  mount- 
ains around  it.  Here  we  reached  the  lowest  temperature 
I  have  ever  experienced.  From  nine  P.M.  until  after  day- 
light, it  was  forty  degrees  below  zero,  as  indicated  by  spirit 
thermometers  ;  and  I  need  not  say  that  we  cultivated  the 
fire  with  tireless  devotion.  An  excellent  supper  was  served, 
and  several  of  us  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  obliging 
landlady  while  we  visited  the  kitchen  to  bathe  our  feet  in 
fresh  water  to  fortify  them  against  the  ordeal  of  the  next 
day's  drive.  She  was  once  in  comfortable  circumstances 
in  Alexandria,  Virginia;  but  rebellion  took  husband,  home, 
and  all  she  owned  and  loved.  With  some  friends  she 
made  her  way  to  the  mountains,  to  begin  life  anew,  and 
she  is  now  earning  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
per  month  keeping  the  station.  Although  a  stranger  to 
labor  until  war  left  her  bereft  of  property  and  blighted  in 
her  affections,  she  resolved  to  be  dependent  only  upon  her- 
self; and  she  now  welcomes  the  traveler  with  cheerful 
smiles  to  her  humble  but  hospitable  home. 

After  supper  we  brought  the  trained  lightning  into  requi- 
sition, through  the  kindness  of  the  operator,  and  chatted 
with  friends  in  Virginia,  Helena,  Salt  Lake,  etc.,  and 
found  how  the  weather-king  was  likely  to  receive  us  on 
our  next  day's  journey.  From  all  the  same  answer  came, 


434  UPSETS  IN  THE  SNOW. 

— "  The  coldest  night  of  the  season."  The  Professor  dis- 
coursed upon  the  philosophy  of  maintaining  animal 
warmth  under  difficulties,  and  every  precaution  was  care- 
fully studied  and  prepared  for.  A  song  closed  the  evening 
festivities,  and,  throwing  off  all  care  until  the  morrow,  we 
disposed  ourselves  around  the  stove  for  a  comfortable 
sleep.  We  had  breakfast  at  four,  and  all  took  an  extra 
cup  of  strong,  hot  coffee  to  enable  us  to  brave  the  piercing 
frost  without.  At  five  we  started  in  an  open  sleigh  on 
our  journey.  Not  a  face  was  visible  in  the  crowd.  The 
driver  had  a  fur  mask  over  his  face,  and  the  passengers 
looked  like  so  many  blocks  covered  with  robes.  We  crowded 
down  in  the  bottom  of  the  sleigh,  and  took  the  robes  of  the 
middle  men  to  cover  the  heads  of  the  entire  party.  Thus 
fortified,  winter's  fiercest  blasts  swept  over  us  harmlessly, 
and  we  soon  began  to  flatter  ourselves  that  we  could  be 
indifferent  to  the  temperature  of  the  mountains.  But,  just 
as  day  was  breaking  in  the  east,  the  sleigh  got  off  the 
beaten  road,  and  we  were  tumbled  pell-mell  into  snow  up 
to  our  waists.  Some  went  down  head-foremost,  and  but 
for  their  robes  would  scarcely  have  left  their  boots  above 
the  snow.  I  was  thrown  from  the  farther  side,  and  was 
almost  entirely  buried  before  I  realized  that  anything  had 
happened.  Fortunately,  the  dry  snow  shakes  off  like  dust; 
and  we  soon  had  the  sleigh  righted  up  and  ourselves  re- 
packed in  the  bottom  of  it.  But  it  was  a  terrible  ordeal ; 
for  our  hands  were  almost  frozen,  even  in  our  fur  gloves, 
before  we  got  restored  to  our  places.  Three  upsets  before 
ten  o'clock  relieved  the  monotony  of  this  memorable  morn- 
ing ride,  and  we  all  suffered  intensely  by  the  few  minutes' 
exposure  to  the  wind  and  snow  necessitated  by  our  unwill- 
ing somersaults.  We  did  not  even  venture  out  to  warm  our- 
selves at  the  stations  while  the  horses  were  changed,  and 
the  driver  took  the  wise  precaution  to  avoid  fire  during  the 


THE  JOSEPHITE  MORMONS.  435 

whole  fifty  miles  of  his  drive.  The  experienced  and  pru- 
dent mountaineer  always  avoids  whisky  and  fire  until  his 
day's  exposure  is  ended.  Noon  brought  us  out  into  Snake 
River  Valley,  and  we  had  a  tolerable  dinner  at  "  Hole  in 
the  Sand"  station.  We  had  got  down  from  the  summit, 
and  the  temperature  had  moderated  some  fifteen  degrees, — 
making  the  weather  what  we  regarded  as  decidedly  pleas- 
ant. We  took  the  coach  again  at  this  station,  and  found 
no  difficulty  in  keeping  comfortable  in  the  close  apartment, 
packed  in  as  we  were  with  blankets  and  robes.  We  could 
again  venture  to  look  out  without  getting  our  noses  frost- 
bitten ;  and,  as  our  faces  no  longer  needed  to  be  covered, 
conversation  and  cheerfulness  again  took  possession  of  our 
little  circle.  Evening  brought  us  to  Eagle  Rock  Lodge, 
already  described  in  these  letters  ;  and  we  had  a  fine  supper, 
a  pleasant  evening,  and  a  comfortable  sleep.  In  the  morn- 
ing we  continued  our  way  through  Snake  River  Valley  to 
Ross's  Fork,  near  old  Fort  Hall,  where  we  had  a  good 
dinner.  Fresh  pork,  venison,  potatoes,  and  cabbage,  with 
delicious  bread  and  coffee,  tempted  us  to  eat  the  worth  of 
the  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  demanded,  and  we  pushed  on 
through  Pont  Neuf  Canon,  Robbers'  Roost,  and  other  in- 
viting localities,  memorable  for  mountain  robberies  and 
murders,  until  we  landed  in  Marsh  Valley,  at  "  Ruddy's," 
about  eleven  o'clock.  Late  as  it  was,  we  had  a  bountiful 
warm  supper,  after  which  we  went  to  bed  in  our  robes,  and 
rose  at  two  in  the  morning  for  breakfast,  in  order  to  make 
the  long  drive  to  this  place  in  good  time.  The  roads  were 
bad,  and  we  had  to  move  slowly.  The  weather  had  con- 
tinued to  moderate ;  and  when  we  reached  the  Josephite 
Mormon  (anti-polygamy)  settlement  at  Malade,  for  dinner, 
we  could  air  ourselves  on  the  streets  without  blankets.  We 
spent  an  hour  with  the  Hickory  Mormons,  and  then  pushed 
off  for  Bear  River.  The  mosquitoes  which  swarmed  about 


436  ARRIVAL  AT  BEAR  RIVER. 

us  in  June  had  succumbed  to  winter,  and  we  found  a  large 
two-story  hotel  at  the  place,  instead  of  the  little  bank  cabin 
that  welcomed  us  to  myriads  of  gnats  and  other  winged 
blood-letters  on  our  outward  journey  We  were  joined 
here  by  the  passengers  from  Idaho,  and  fresh  acquaint- 
ances added  to  the  zest  of  an  evening  chat.  One  by  one 
they  have  dropped  off  from  song  and  story  to  bed,  until  I 
remain  alone ;  and,  with  this  hasty  sketch  of  our  five  days' 
journey  over  the  Rocky  range,  I  resign  myself,  with  my 
companions,  to  rest. 


LETTER    XLYII 

An  Early  Start  from  Bear  Kiver. — The  Great  Salt  Lake. — Char- 
acter of  its  Tributaries  and  its  Waters. — Dinner  at  Ogden. — 
Arrival  at  Salt  Lake  City. — The  Townsend  House. — The  Land- 
lord and  his  Three  Wives. — Kindness  and  Hospitality  of  the 
Mormons.  —  Mormon  Drinking-Houses,  Billiard -Kooms,  and 
Currency. — The  Law  against  Polygamy  practically  a  Dead 
Letter. — Solution  of  the  Vexed  Problem. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH  TERR.,  January  12, 1868. 
WE  had  pleasant  beds  and  a  good  night's  sleep  at  the 
new  Bear  River  Hotel,  and  a  tempting  breakfast  before 
daylight.  It  is  a  long  drive  from  there  to  this  city;  and, 
with  just  snow  enough  to  make  staging  rough  and  hard, 
and  not  enough  to  run  the  coach  on  sleds,  we  had  a  heavy 
day's  drive  to  reach  here  on  schedule  time, — six  in  the 
evening.  Before  it  was  light  enough  to  recognize  each 
other  in  the 'coach,  we  were  snugly  crowded  in,  and  started 
at  a  gay  gallop  to  ascend  the  very  abrupt  hill  which  forms 
the  southern  bank  of  the  river.  Once  on  its  summit,  we 
had  an  open  and  almost  level  valley  ahead  of  us,  and  we 
swept  along  at  the  rate  of  eight  miles  an  hour,  regardless 
of  the  icy  roughness  of  the  road.  Soon  we  were  again  in 
view  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  with  its  broad  unruffled  sur- 
face, and  without  a  particle  of  ice  on  its  waters.  It  is 
changeless  in  all  seasons.  Its  banks  never  overflow,  no 
matter  how  rapidly  its  mountain-tributaries  rise  ;  nor  does 
its  volume  of  water  diminish  in  the  severest  drought. 

38  (  431  ) 


438  ARRIVAL  AT  OGDEN  CITY. 

Whither  its  vast  but  unknown  outlet  courses  in  its  hidden 
path  to  the  sea,  no  one  pretends  to  know;  but  that  it 
must  have  a  large  subterranean  passage  to  the  Pacific  is 
not  a  matter  of  doubt.  Four  large  rivers  empty  into  it, — 
the  Bear,  the  Weber,  the  Ogden,  and  the  Jordan,  their 
combined  waters  being  greater  than  the  waters  of  the 
Susquehanna  at  Harrisburg;  and,  although  all  are  the 
freshest  of  streams,  the  water  of  the  lake  is  the  most  briny 
known  in  any  large  body  in  the  world.  Three  gallons  of 
water  will  evaporate  into  one  gallon  of  pure  salt.  Of 
course  no  toilers  of  the  sea  inhabit  it.  Cattle  cross  some 
of  its  arms  to  reach  the  nutritious  pastures  on  the  lake- 
islands,  where  fresh  water  also  abounds,  and  boats  bear 
ambitious  tourists  from  island  to  island  to  inspect  the 
wonders  of  this  singular  inland  sea;  but  no  commerce 
floats  upon  it.  It  extends  nearly  eighty  miles  north  and 
south,  and  about  thirty  miles  east  and  west,  with  occa- 
sional flat  meadows  and  towering  mountains  scattered 
through  it.  Now  that  it  will  soon  be  accessible  in  a  few 
days  from  the  Eastern  cities,  and  scientific  men  can  make 
a  pleasant  summer  tour  to  this  beautiful  valley,  before 
many  years  elapse  the  invisible  currents  of  this  large  body 
of  water  will  be  positively  traced,  and  the  point  of  outlet 
ascertained. 

We  arrived  at  Ogden  City  for  dinner,  and  enjoyed  the 
hospitality  of  one  of  Bishop  West's  eight  wives.  The 
weather  was  still  cold, — the  thermometer  ranging  below 
zero ;  but  we  were  all  well  protected,  had  level  roads,  and 
had  rather  an  agreeable  journey  through  the  Mormon  set- 
tlements to  the  chief  city  of  the  Saints.  We  arrived  here 
last  evening  punctually  on  time,  and  took  quarters  at  the 
Townsend  House.  It  is  owned  and  kept  by  Bishop  Town- 
send,  and  is  all  that  the  traveler  could  wish  for  as  a  place 
of  entertainment.  The  rooms  are  large,  well  ventilated, 


MORMON  KINDNESS  AND   HOSPITALITY.       439 

and  cleverly  furnished,  and  the  table  is  bountifully  and  credi- 
tably supplied.  The  bishop  is  the  lord  and  master  of  three 
wives,  and  is  an  enthusiastic  disciple  of  the  polygamic  faith. 
His  first  wife  is  not  visible  to  the  guests  of  the  house ;  and 
how  much  the  advent  of  the  plural  sisters  has  to  do  with 
her  retirement,  I  can  only  guess.  The  second  wife  is  the 
landlady, — a  clever,  agreeable  Danish  woman,  and  evi- 
dently a  thorough  housekeeper.  She  was  one  of  the  very 
few  Mormon  wives  I  found  ready  to  chat  with  visitors ; 
but  the  one  unpleasant  domestic  subject  was  never  intro- 
duced. The  third  wife  is  a  young  madam  still  in  her 
teens,  and  monopolizes  the  tender  attentions  of  her  lord. 
She  lives  in  a  separate  establishment ;  and  the  playing  of 
the  piano  by  the  second  wife  all  last  night  in  the  parlor 
immediately  under  my  chamber  was  explained  by  the 
clerk  as  the  result  of  the  absence  of  the  bishop,  who  was 
enjoying  the  latest-found  charms  of  his  increased  house- 
hold. 

I  had  studied  the  Mormons  socially  when  here  in  June 
last;  and  in  these  letters  will  be  found  the  convictions  then 
accepted.  They  have  not  been  in  any  degree  changed. 
Notwithstanding  the  freedom  with  which  I  discussed  the 
objectionable  features  of  Mormon  life,  I  have  been  wel- 
comed again  with  unaffected  kindness  and  hospitality ; 
and  the  same  dignitaries  of  the  Church  have  renewed  the 
old  discussion  with  me  in  the  most  friendly  way.  I  spent 
last  evening  seeing  the  evening  retreats  of  the  Saints. 
Two  drinking-saloons  are  allowed  in  this  city  of  twenty 
thousand  people,  and  they  pay  a  license  to  the  city  of 
three  hundred  dollars  per  month.  One  of  the  saloons  has 
a  billiard-room  attached;  and,  in  addition  to  the  license  for 
selling  liquors,  a  special  license  of  $33.33^  a  month  is  paid 
to  the  city  on  each  of  the  nine  tables.  Here  the  Gentiles 
and  strangers  gather  in,  and  it  is  a  reunion  every  evening 


440  THE  LAWS  AGAINST  POLYGAMY. 

for  some  old  friends  who  have  long  been  parted  in  their 
mountain-adventures.  Here  and  there  through  the  crowd 
could  be  seen  a  Jack-Mormon  (the  term  applied  to  ad- 
hering Saints  who  care  more  for  Mormon  trade  than 
Mormon  religion) ;  but  I  did  not  see  a  single  prominent 
Mormon  during  the  two  hours  I  spent  there.  Brigham 
Young  recognizes  the  necessity  for  drinking-houses  and 
billiards ;  but  he  well  understands  that  responsibility  for 
abuse  in  the  sale  of  liquor  can  be  counted  on  only  by  limit- 
ing the  houses  to  the  smallest  possible  number.  To  do 
this,  he  makes  the  license  thirty-six  hundred  dollars  per 
annum ;  and  but  two  houses  can  afford  to  pay  it.  He 
thus  gets  the  maximum  of  revenue  from  the  minimum  of 
sources.  Another  large  source  of  revenue  is  in  Mormon 
currency.  Notwithstanding  the  acts  of  Congress  taxing 
all  but  national  currency  practically  out  of  existence,  the 
corporation  of  Salt  Lake  City  (or,  in  fact,  Brigham  Young) 
has  a  considerable  volume  of  currency  out,  that  closely  re- 
sembles our  greenbacks.  It  passes  in  all  branches  of  trade 
as  acceptably  as  regular  national  bank-paper,  and  I  pre- 
sume must,  in  some  way,  escape  national  taxation. 

I  have  so  fully  discussed  the  social  features  of  polygamy 
heretofore  that  I  will  not  again  refer  to  them  ;  but  the  so- 
lution of  this  vexed  problem  has  caused  me  much  reflection 
since  my  visit  here  last  summer.  We  have  passed  laws 
prohibiting  polygamy,  pronouncing  it  a  crime,  and  denning 
its  punishment ;  but  the  laws  have  been  as  dead  letters  on 
our  national  statute-books,  with  not  even  the  pretense  of 
respecting  them  by  this  peculiar  people.  Indeed,  in  all  my 
conversations  with  the  leading  Mormons,  they  declare  with 
one  accord  that  the  laws  against  polygamy  cannot  and 
shall  not  be  enforce^.  It  is  vain  for  a  faithful  Governor  to 
appeal  to  the  legislature  ;  for  it  is  entirely  Mormon.  It  is 
idle  for  law-abiding  judges  to  charge  Mormon  grand  juries 


MORMON  POPULATION  OF   UTAH.  441 

that  they  are  criminals,  and  ask  them  to  find  true  bills 
against  themselves;  and,  even  if  a  conviction  could  be  at- 
tained, sentence  could  not  be  enforced.  Until  I  mingled 
with  the  Mormon  people  and  ascertained  their  infatuated 
devotion  to  their  Church,  I  felt  that  our  government  was 
remiss  in  not  enforcing  the  laws  against  polygamy  at  any 
cost ;  but  since  I  have  been  here  I  have  been  staggered  at  the 
contemplation  of  the  probable  results  of  such  a  policy.  The 
leaders  are  shrewd,  cunning  men,  and  do  not  mean  to  sur- 
render their  power  over  a  deluded  people.  As  a  class,  they 
would,  I  have  no  doubt,  surrender  their  cities  and  fields  to 
devastation,  and  start  for  new  homes  in  some  inaccessible 
wilderness,  rather  than  submit  to  force.  Of  the  one  hun- 
dred thousand  population  of  Utah,  ninety-two  thousand  are 
Mormons ;  and  of  that  number  nine-tenths  have  implicit 
faith  in  the  Mormon  religion.  It  is  a  faith,  too,  that  reason 
cannot  unsettle  ;  and  persecution,  or  what  they  would  re- 
gard as  persecution,  would  but  intensify  it.  They  have 
well  considered  the  subject ;  and  it  is  their  high  resolve 
that  they  may  be  driven  from  their  favorite  valley  and 
their  property  sacrificed,  but  that  they  will  not  submit 
to  any  encroachment  upon  what  they  claim  to  be  their 
right  to  worship  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  con- 
sciences. 

But  for  the  fact  that  the  surges  of  Christian  progress  are 
already  breaking  against  this  hitherto  impregnable  rock  of 
blasphemy  and  fanaticism,  I  should  hesitate  to  offer  any  solu- 
tion of  the  vexed  question.  But  the  Pacific  Railroad  will 
cross  this  country  in  less  than  two  years  more,  and  each  day 
is  now  practically  shortening  the  distance  and  lessening  the 
dangers  of  a  tour  across  the  continent.  When  the  people 
of  the  East  get  to  understand  that  here  are  opportunities  for 
industry  and  enterprise  such  as  the  old  settlements  cannot 

38* 


442         SOLUTION  OF  THE    VEXED    QUESTION. 

present,  and  when  five  days'  travel  will  land  emigrants  in 
Utah,  I  look  for  a  heavy  influx  of  settlers  who  will  antago- 
nize the  Mormon  faith ;  and  the  discovery  of  rich  mines  in 
the  surrounding  mountains  will  precipitate  a  population 
before  which  the  Mormons  cannot  stand.  Whether  vice 
or  virtue  come  to  mingle  with  this  people,  the  antago- 
nism is  the  same.  Virtue  will  reform,  vice  will  attack, 
and  both  will  gradually  but  surely  dethrone  polygamy. 

The  time  is  not  yet  for  effective  legislation  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  but  it  cannot  be  far  distant.  When  the  railroad  is  com- 
pleted, and  the  tide  of  fresh  population  sets  in  for  Utah, 
then  Congress  may  render  essential  aid  in  wiping  out  this 
fearful  blot  upon  our  fame.  No  half-way  measures  will  be 
availing  when  the  effort  is  to  be  made.  Laws  must  not 
only  be  enacted,  but  they  must  be  enforced.  It  cannot  be 
done  in  a  day,  and  perhaps  not  in  a  year ;  but  it  can  be 
done.  There  must  be  fifty  thousand  anti-Mormon  people 
in  Utah  before  laws  against  polygamy  can  be  effective. 
There  must  be  social,  political,  and  business  power  to  aid 
the  law  in  asserting  and  maintaining  its  majesty.  Then, 
if  defiance  continues,  as  hitherto  and  now,  Congress  can 
lay  a  heavy  hand  upon  the  polygamists  and  attain  substan- 
tial results  thereby.  If  all  else  fails,  the  denial  of  the  right 
to  vote,  to  hold  office,  to  acquire  title  under  the  pre-emption 
and  homestead  laws,  and  to  sit  as  jurors,  may  become  a 
necessity,  and  accomplish  what  milder  measures  have 
failed  to  secure.  There  will  be  a  desperate  struggle  for 
polygamy ;  but  I  am  hopeful  that  the  rapid  infusion  of  a 
new  element  into  Mormon  society  will  gradually  prepare 
them  for  the  change,  and  submission  will  ultimately  follow. 
The  time  has  come  when  this  problem  must  be  solved.  It 
is  now  about  to  be  brought  face  to  face  with  civilization ; 
and  our  laws  should  conform  to  the  new  order  of  things 
and  aid  enlightened  progress  in  this  reform.  In  no  other 


THE  SUCCESSFUL   REMEDY.  443 

way  can  it  be  effected,  unless  by  a  prodigious  war  and 
pursuing  the  criminals  with  flame  and  sword ;  and  that 
cannot  be  sanctioned.  To  be  successful,  the  remedy  must 
be  a  peaceful  one ;  and  I  shall  anxiously  await  the  day  when 
the  westward  march  of  liberal  Christianity,  going  hand  in 
hand  with  law,  shall  remove  this  stain  from  our  national 
escutcheon. 


LETTER   XLYIII. 

Leaving  Salt  Lake. — Crossing  the  Kocky  Range  again. — The 
Winter  Trip  more  pleasant  than  the  Summer  Trip. — Weber 
Canon  and  Weber  River.— Echo  Canon.— A  Night  Upset.— 
No  Damage  done. — A  Snow-Storm. — The  Road  lost. — Above 
the  Clouds  on  the  Range. — Starlight  above,  and  a  Snow-Storm 
below. — The  Professor's  Speech. — Bear  River. — Crossing  Quak- 
ing Asp  Divide. — Bridger  Valley. — Fort  Bridger. — Hank  Con- 
ner.— A  Gay  Night-Drive  through  the  Mountain-Cliffs. — A  Wild 
Team,  and  our  Experience  with  it. — Green  River. — Bitter  Creek. 
— A  Baby  Passenger. — The  Whistle  of  the  Locomotive  again. — 
End  of  a  Journey  of  Three  Thousand  Miles  through  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

CHEYENNE,  DAKOTA  TERR.,  January  18,  1868. 
ON  the  morning  of  the  12th  we  bade  a  second  farewell  to 
the  City  of  the  Saints,  and  started  for  a  winter  journey  of 
over  five  hundred  miles  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
again.  The  journey  from  Montana  to  the  East  by  Utah 
involves  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  twice  from  base  to 
base  ;  and  the  tourist  starting  from  Deer  Lodge,  Montana, 
for  the  East  must  cross  the  Rocky  range  three  times. 
The  mountains  bend  far  to  the  west  as  they  cross  the 
northern  part  of  the  United  States,  leaving  Virginia  City, 
Helena,  and  most  of  the  settled  portion  of  Montana  east 
of  the  Rocky  range,  although  far  west  of  the  eastern 
side  of  the  mountains  at  Denver.  The  Rocky  range  di- 
vides Montana,  leaving  Deer  Lodge  and  Missoula  coun- 
ties west  of  it.  Starting  at  Virginia  City,  therefore,  \ve 
are  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Rocky  range,  and  got  on 
(444) 


A    PLEASANT    WINTER  JOURNEY.  445 

the  western  side  as  we  journey  south  into  Idaho  and  Utah. 
At  Salt  Lake  City  we  must  cross  the  mountains  again  to 
get  to  this  point.  Thus  in  a  journey  of  three  thousand 
miles  by  stage  through  the  mountains  I  have  crossed  them 
six  times  from  base  to  base,  and  at  four  different  passes, — 
viz. :  Bridger,  Pleasant  Valley,  Big  Hole,  and  Mullen's. 
Bridger  and  Pleasant  Yalley  Passes  were  crossed  twice 
each  in  the  journey. 

Although  I  had  crossed  the  mountains  from  here  to  Salt 
Lake  in  June  last,  I  found  but  little  sign  of  summer;  and, 
upon  the  whole,  the  winter  trip  was  decidedly  the  most 
pleasant.  The  most  pitiless  snow-storm  I  was  ever  ex- 
posed to  was  on  the  summit  of  the  range  on  the  Tth 
of  June ;  and  the  ravages  of  the  Indians  all  around  us 
did  not  add  to  the  comfort  of  the  journey.  But  the  win- 
ter trip  was  comparatively  pleasant.  We  all  looked  for 
cold  weather  and  but  moderate  accommodations ;  and  we 
did  not  realize  more  than  we  expected  in  the  disagreeable 
line.  Indeed,  in  some  respects  it  was  a  very  pleasant  part 
of  the  mountain -journey.  We  had  a  jolly  company,  were 
not  uncomfortably  crowded,  and  the  line  and  stations 
were  in  comparatively  good  condition.  We  had  no  vexa- 
tious delays,  only  two  or  three  innocent  upsets,  and  the 
"  home-stations"  generally  welcomed  us  to  acceptable 
meals. 

Instead  of  crossing  the  Wasatch  range  by  Parley 
Canon,  as  we  did  when  going  west,  we  were  taken  through 
Weber  Canon,  where  the  Weber  River  has  cut  its  way 
through  the  towering  mountain  that  impeded  its  outlet  to 
the  Utah  basin.  The  fall  of  the  river  is  very  rapid  in 
most  places.  The  bed  of  the  stream  is  narrow,  and  the 
water  foams  and  dashes  along,  often  undermining  huge 
rocks  and  hurling  them  down  with  the  irresistible  tide. 
We  dined  on  tolerable  fare  at  the  mouth  of  the  canon,  and 


446  A   NIGHT   UPSET, 

started  in  a  comfortable  sleigh  to  follow  the  sinuosities  of 
our  narrow  road  along  the  river-bank.  At  times  perpen- 
dicular walls  of  rock,  nearly  a  thousand  feet  high,  were  on 
one  side  of  us,  and  the  boisterous  river  close  by  us  on  the 
other  side ;  and  in  several  instances  the  frowning  rocks 
reached  out  over  us, — the  water  having  washed  away  a 
portion  of  the  foundation  where  the  narrow  stage-road  is 
now  located.  In  some  twenty  miles  nothing  is  presented 
to  the  traveler  but  the  bleakest  of  mountain-cliffs,  abrupt 
ravines,  and  the  ceaseless  roaring  of  the  angry  waters  of 
the  Weber  as  they  dash  onward  to  the  plain. 

It  was  after  dark  when  we  arrived  at  Weber,  fifty  miles 
from  Salt  Lake,  and  the  most  eastern  settlement  of  the 
Mormons.  We  had  an  hour  to  enjoy  a  good  supper  and  a 
bright  open  fire,  when  we  started  for  a  night-drive  through 
the  celebrated  Echo  Canon,  already  described  in  these 
letters.  We  all  got  comfortably  wrapped  up  in  our  blan- 
kets and  robes  for  sleep.  Conversation  had  entirely  died 
out,  and  all  were  enjoying  or  coaxing  slumber.  Suddenly 
we  all  landed,  in  most  ungraceful  attitudes,  in  a  snow-bank 
on  the  hill-side,  and  passengers,  robes,  blankets,  trunks, 
bottles,  etc.  were  mixed  up  in  the  greatest  confusion.  The 
sleigh  had  upset  when  making  a  rapid  turn  in  the  road, 
and  we  were  pitched  more  than  a  rod  before  we  fell.  For- 
tunately, no  serious  damage  was  sustained  by  any  one,  and 
we  gathered  ourselves  and  our  baggage  up  as  best  we 
could,  shook  the  dry  snow  off,  and  nestled  down  again  for 
rest.  Before  midnight  a  heavy  snow-storm  set  in,  and  the 
road  soon  became  invisible  to  the  driver.  He  stopped 
several  times  to  reconnoitre ;  and  I  could  hear  his  expres- 
sions, rather  more  emphatic  than  elegant,  evidently  indi- 
cating that  he  had  lost  his  way.  After  wandering  around 
for  two  hours,  he  finally  reached  the  next  station,  and 
there  we  met v  the  western-bound  coach  laid  up  for  the 


ABOVE  THE   CLOUDS  ON  THE  RANGE.          447 

night, — the  driver  having  afso  lost  his  way,  and  decided 
to  wait  for  daylight,  There  was  no  comfortable  room  for 
the  passengers,  and,  after  lounging  about  for  an  hour  or 
more,  our  party  insisted  upon  going  on ;  and  the  driver  at 
last  consented  to  do  so. 

Before  daylight  we  reached  the  summit  just  west  of 
Bear  River,  and  there  we  suddenly  emerged  from  the 
snow-storm  into  bright  starlight,  with  a  cloudless  sky 
above  us,  while  the  storm-king  was  hurling  the  tempest  on 
every  side  of  us  below.  We  stopped  the  sleigh,  and  all 
got  out  to  enjoy  the  scene  above  the  clouds,  and  called 
upon  Professor  Eaton  for  an  explanatory  speech.  He  re- 
sponded in  his  happiest  style,  and  a  miniature  town-meet- 
ing was  thus  improvised  on  the  mountain-top  to  hear  and 
applaud  the  theory  of  storms  and  clouds.  JBtBcrcf: 

Just  as  the  first  appearance  of  day  was  visible  in  the 
east,  we  landed  at  Bear  River,  and  remained  for  break- 
fast. After  a  good  warming  and  a  clever  meal,  we 
started  again,  to  climb  the  Quaking  Asp  Divide,  the 
highest  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  crossed  by  the 
stage-route  between  this  place  and  Salt  Lake.  The 
morning  was  intensely  cold,  and  the  fine,  dry  snow 
was  flying  in  clouds,  which  blinded  the  driver  and  pas- 
sengers. Where  the  snow-drifts  were  deep,  in  the  nu- 
merous ravines  or  depressions,  the  road  was  marked  by 
willow  sprigs,  and  the  horses  kept  the  beaten  track.  Little 
driving  was  required,  and  the  long  slope  of  changeless 
white,  without  even  a  bush  to  break  the  monotony  of  the 
view,  seemed  almost  endless,  as  we  slowly  climbed  it. 
What  appeared  to  be  but  a  steep  incline  of  a  few  miles 
proved  to  be  a  weary  journey  of  ten  miles,  and  we  most 
gladly  welcomed  the  sight  of  the  rude  station  that  stood 
out  on  the  hill-side  to  brave  the  merciless  storms  which 
play  almost  perpetually  around  it.  The  warm  stove  was 


448  THE  CELEBRATED  HANK  CONNER. 

a  welcome  acquaintance,  and  we  clustered  around  it  to 
thaw  ourselves  out. 

After  crossing  the  Quaking  Asp  Divide,  we  had  -  ^ught- 
ful  drive  over  Bridger  Plain,  and  the  middle  o,  r- 

noon  brought  us  to  the  little  mountain-city  known  as  Fort 
Bridger.  My  old  friend,  Judge  Carter,  was  absent;  but  a 
fine  station-house,  with  several  apartments,  and  all  with 
cheerful  fires  sparkling  on  the  hearth,  made  us  most  com- 
fortable, and  furnished  an  excellent  dinner. 

At  this  place  we  came  under  the  whip  of  the  celebrated 
Hank  Conner, — the  gayest,  the  jolliest,  the  most  reckless, 
and  yet  one  of  the  most  expert  drivers  on  the  entire  route. 
Hank  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  Western  manhood.  Tall, 
well  proportioned,  active  as  a  cat,  his  face  beaming  with 
intelligence  and  humor,  he  is  a  perfect  monarch  when  he 
is  seated  on  the  box,  with  his  hat  perched  saucily  on  the 
side  of  his  head,  his  lines  perfectly  in  hand,  and  his  long 
lash  tapered  with  the  keen,  silken  cracker.  While  he 
chatted  with  us  before  the  fire,  he  was  busy  finishing  a  new 
whip,  and,  from  the  sly  expression  of  his  face  rather  than 
from  anything  he  said,  it  was  manifest  that  he  meant  to 
give  us  a  ride  to  be  remembered.  He  had  given  me  notice, 
when  I  went  west,  that  he  hoped  to  have  a  chance  to  give 
me  a  display  of  his  skill ;  and  now  the  opportunity  had 
come.  Jolly  John  Creighton  was  one  of  the  party ;  and 
Hank  had  an  old  score  to  settle  with  him  also.  It  was 
evident  that  a  merry  ride  was  before  us,  and  we  resolved 
to  take  things  as  they  came,  and  to  die  rather  than 
"squeal," — to  use  a  Westernism. 

About  four  o'clock  we  started  for  a  sixty-mile  drive  to 
Green  River.  The  road,  for  thirty  miles,  was  over  a  level 
plain.  The  sleighing  was  elegant,  and  we  traveled  along 
at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour.  Soon  after  dark  we 
got  into  a  succession  of  bluffs ;  but  still  we  went  along 


OUR   EXPERIENCE    WITH  A    WILD    TEAM.       449 

pleasantly,  until  we  came  to  the  last  station  west  of  Green 
River.  So  T  r,  Hank  had  been  jolly  and  talkative,  but  he 
had  not  jU«en  able  to  "  sweat"  us,  as  he  had  threatened. 
We  begf&  'to  hope  that  we  would  escape ;  but  at  the  last 
station  a  confusion  of  bluffs  were  dimly  visible  in  the  moon- 
light, and  I  feared  that  Hank's  time  had  come.  I  walked 
carelessly  around  the  team  as  the  men  were  hitching  up, 
and  professed  to  amuse  myself  petting  the  sociable  stable- 
dog  ;  but  I  was  carefully  surveying  the  restive  bronchos 
(wild  horses)  led  out  for  Hank's  last  drive. 

"  Lively  team,  Hank,"  I  remarked,  with  well-affected 
indifference. 

"They're  lightning,"  was  Hank's  laconic  but  expressive 
answer. 

"How  is  the  road  to  the  river?"  I  ventured  to  ask,  next. 

"  It's  hell,"  was  his  significant  response. 

Creighton  and  I  held  a  hasty  council  of  war,  and  decided 
that  one  of  us  should  take  the  front  and  the  other  the  rear 
seat  in  the  sleigh  on  opposite  sides,  so  that  we  could  lean 
out  and  probably  save  an  upset.  The  six  bronchos  pranced 
around  until  Hank  took  his  seat,  when,  with  the  yell,  "  Git!" 
his  long  lash  swung  out  over  the  team,  and  the  crack  of  his 
silk  resounded  through  the  mountain-cliffs.  The  horses 
sprang  off  and  dashed  down  the  steep  hill  with  frightful 
speed.  The  off-wheeler  soon  became  dissatisfied  with  the 
race,  and  commenced  violent  kicking,  to  which  Hank  re- 
sponded by  the  free  use  of  the  whip;  but  the  broncho 
kicked  away  until  he  had  about  dissolved  himself  of  har- 
ness, when  Hank  pulled  up  the  team,  and,  with  a  growling 
curse  at  the  vicious  horse,  he  got  out  to  hitch  him  up  again. 
It  required  two  of  the  passengers  to  hold  the  team  while 
the  obstreperous  wheeler  was  being  reharnessed ;  but  soon 
the  job  was  completed,  and  Hank  whirled  and  cracked  his 
whip  more  viciously  than  ever.  A  long,  rough  hill  was 

39 


450  ARRIVAL  AT  GREEN  RIVER. 

before  us,  with  snow-drifts  and  sharp  curves  around  the 
cliffs ;  but  through  and  around  all  he  dashed  as  if  some 
mountain-fiend  was  chasing  him.  Several  times  he  well- 
nigh  had  the  sleigh  over,  but  Oreighton  and  I  would  swing 
out  and  save  it  when  just  on  the  balance.  Before  we 
reached  the  foot  of  the  hill,  the  lead-pole  attaching  the 
front  horses  to  the  team  broke  loose ;  but  Hank  did  not 
stop  for  such  trifles.  Away  he  dashed  with  part  of  the 
team  detached  from  the  other  horses  and  held  only  by  the 
lines,  his  whip  cracking  and  flashing  over  the  frightened 
bronchos,  and  now  and  then,  as  bare  spots  of  road  were 
reached,  a  streak  of  fire  streamed  behind  us  for  rods,  as  if 
some  demon  of  the  wilderness  was  on  our  track.  Not  a 
word  was  spoken  by  the  passengers :  all  were  fixed  in  the 
determination  that  Hank  might  break  a  few  necks  or  limbs, 
but  that  none  should  recognize  anything  unusual  in  his 
fancy  midnight  drive.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  he  pulled  up 
again,  getting  the  horses  in  a  bunch,  and  attempted  to  re- 
hitch  the  leaders.  It  required  all  the  passengers  to  hold 
the  team  while  Hank  was  reuniting  them,  and,  that  done, 
he  cracked  his  whip  again  and  started  off  with  increased 
desperation.  A  single  expostulation  would  doubtless  have 
satisfied  him  and  given  us  peace.  We  all  wanted  the  mad 
drive  to  end,  and  I  think  that  each  hoped  that  one  of  the 
others  would  speak ;  but  no  one  proved  equal  to  the  surren- 
der of  his  pride  to  his  fears.  There  was,  therefore,  nothing 
left  but  to  meet  it  as  bravely  as  possible  ;  and  we  made  the 
twelve-mile  drive  over  the  worst  of  mountain-road  without 
an  intimation  from  one  of  the  passengers  that  anything  was 
wrong. 

At  last  the  foaming  and  steaming  horses  galloped  up 
before  the  station  at  Green  River,  and  the  silence  on  the 
subject  of  the  drive  was  unbroken  until  we  sat  down  to  our 
one  o'clock  supper.  Hank  could  keep  silent  no  longer.  We 


GIVING    UP   THE   OLD  STAGE-COACH.  451 

had  beaten  him -at  his  own  game;  and  he  was  deeply  mor- 
tified. Finally  he  said,  "  Colonel,  I  was  a  little  slower  on  my 
last  heat  than  usual.  Hope  you  were  not  impatient  at  the 
delay."  "  Certainly  not,"  I  answered.  "  Considering  the 
bad  roads  and  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  you  did  reason- 
ably well."  Not  even  a  smile  accompanied  the  remarks  on 
either  side ;  and  soon  after  we  all  bade  Hank  good-by  with 
a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand. 

I  have  so  fully  described  the  Bitter  Creek  region  and 
Bridger  Pass  in  letters  last  spring,  that  I  will  not  refer  to 
them  again.  No  incidents  worthy  of  note  occurred  on  the 
route,  until  at  Sulphur  Spring  we  were  joined  by  a  lady 
with  a  rollicking  baby.  She  certainly  could  not  complain 
of  our  want  of  gallantry.  We  first  offered  the  whole  sleigh 
to  the  baby,  and  as  much  of  it  as  the  mother  wanted  for 
herself.  Two  passengers  were  detailed  to  take  special  care 
of  the  young  mountaineer;  and  they  were  relieved  from 
station  to  station.  Never  were  mother  and  child  made 
more  welcome,  and  the  best  of  our  blankets  and  robes  en- 
circled them.  Who  they  were,  or  to  whom  they  belonged, 
we  never  inquired.  They  were  as  an  oasis  in  the  desert ; 
and  we  left  them  at  Dale  City,  with  an  individual  bless- 
ing from  each  of  us. 

Last  night  we  emerged  from  the  mountains ;  and  I  felt 
some  reluctance  at  the  idea  of  giving  up  the  old  stage- 
coach. It  had  been  my  friend  for  many  months,  and  my 
companion  through  all  my  long  mountain-travels.  I  had 
learned  to  love  it,  to  sleep  comfortably  in  it,  and  to  enjoy 
the  hospitality  it  secured  me.  But  the  land  of  civilization 
had  again  been  reached,  as  I  fully  realized  when  near  the 
city.  I  heard  again  the  almost-forgotten  scream  of  the 
locomotive-whistle.  For  eight  months  1  had  not  heard  it; 
and  when  I  had  left  the  iron  horse  on  my  westward  jour- 
ney it  had  but  reached  the  Platte,  three  hundred  miles 


452  END    OF  °UR  JOURNEY. 

farther  toward  the  rising  sun.  At  three  this  morning  we 
whirled  into  Cheyenne ;  and  I  woke  up  to  see  a  city  of  five 
thousand  people.  On  the  9th  of  June  last,  when  I  was  at 
Virginia  Dale,  some  thirty  miles  west  of  this  place,  the 
Indians  had  attacked  the  engineer  corps  about  where  Chey- 
enne stands.  There  was  then  not  a  habitation  visible  on 
this  inhospitable  plain.  Now  the  locomotive  sings  his 
rude  song  daily,  and  five  thousand  of  the  fastest  people  of 
the  continent  dwell  here  for  the  time  being.  They  have 
no  law  but  the  law  of  the  people,  and  a  lifeless  body  sus- 
pended to  a  post  this  morning  occasioned  no  comment,  un- 
less among  strangers.  The  law  of  self-preservation  is  the 
supreme  law,  and  there  is  a  short  shrift  for  the  freebooter. 
To-morrow  I  start  for  home.  It  is  now  but  a  journey 
of  three  and  a  half  days  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
Harrisburg.  I  have  had  eight  months  of  the  most  delight- 
ful adventure  in  the  mountains ;  and  my  three  thousand 
miles  of  journey  through  them  will  ever  be  among  the  most 
grateful  recollections  of  my  life. 


APPENDIX. 


THE   OVERLAND  STAGE  LINE. 

1 15 

LETTER  No.  18,  commencing  on  page  275,  is  given  as  origin- 
ally published  in  the  New  York  "Tribune,"  without  omissions  or 
modification. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  complained  that  it  did  their  company  great 
injustice,  and  formally  notified  the  publishers  of  the  ' '  Tribune"  that, 
unless  my  alleged  misstatements  were  corrected,  an  action  for  libel 
would  follow.  No  retraction  or  apology  was  given  for  the  publica- 
tion, and  no  libel  suit  followed.  I  met  one  of  the  officers  of  the  com- 
pany after  my  return,  and  the  whole  subject  was  fully  and  frankly 
discussed.  The  facts,  as  I  gave  them  from  personal  observation, 
he  did  not  question ;  but  he  made  some  explanations  which  I  deem 
it  due  to  the  company  now  to  give  with  the  letter.  He  informed 
me  that  the  government  had  never  paid  for  any  horses  taken  by 
the  Indians.  On  that  point  I  was  doubtless  mistaken.  He  claimed, 
however,  that,  under  their  contract,  Congress  was  bound  to  pay 
for  all  stock  they  have  lost  or  may  lose  because  of  inadequate 
protection  to  the  route.  He  fully  disabused  my  mind  respecting 
the  alleged  neglect  of  the  company  to  provide  for  their  stock. 
They  came  into  possession  of  the  line  late  in  the  fall  of  1866, — too 
late  to  procure  ample  supplies  of  feed ;  and  the  loss  of  their  stock 
on  the  Plains  compelled  them  to  use  every  horse  they  could  get, 
and  they  very  naturally  used  the  least  valuable  in  the  mountain- 
region,  where  the  stock  was  most  exposed,  and  where  proper  care 
could  not  be  taken  of  them.  I  am  convinced  that  I  did  the  com- 
pany injustice  in  assuming  that  the  capture  of  their  crippled  and 
worthless  stock  was  deliberatf  planned.  While  I  cannot  hold 
the  company  as  excusable,  i  am  glad  to  relieve  them  from  the 

(453) 


454  APPENDIX. 

grave  imputation  of  inviting  Indian  raids  by  intentionally  ex- 
posing their  worn-down  horses.  I  believed  then,  as  did  their  own 
agents,  and  business-men  generally  on  the  line,  that  they  were 
clearing  from  $500,000  to  $1,000,000  annually,  and  felt  that  they 
could  afford  to  make  much  better  provision  for  their  stock  and 
greatly  enhance  the  safety  and  comfort  of  passengers.  The  fact 
that  the  shares  of  the  company  have  fallen  sixty  per  cent,  since  the 
spring  of  1867,  and  that  (as  I  have  been  assured  by  an  officer  of 
the  company)  the  line  was  run  at  a  heavy  loss  in  1867-8,  relieves 
them  from  the  charge  of  illiberality.  The  obnoxious  law,  pro- 
hibiting the  transmission  of  books,  papers,  and  pamphlets  by 
mail,  has  been  repealed  since  my  letter  was  written,  and  that 
serious  ground  of  complaint  is  removed.  Desiring  to  be  just,  I 
have  thought  it  best  to  give  the  letter  just  as  it  was  written,  to- 
gether with  this  note  of  explanation.  When  I  returned  over 
the  same  route  in  the  winter  of  1868,  I  found  the  whole  line  well 
stocked  and  abundantly  supplied. 


THE    INDIAN    QUESTION. 

The  letter  No.  38,  commencing  on  page  354,  was  written  after 
the  most  careful  reflection  upon  the  subject,  and  also  after  oppor- 
tunity had  been  afforded  for  very  thorough  observation  of  the 
actual  condition  of  both  settlers  and  the  nomadic  tribes  in  the 
Far  "West.  As  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  first  letters  written 
west  of  the  Missouri,  I  shared  the  humanitarian  views  of  most 
Eastern  people  in  looking  to  the  solution  of  the  Indian  problem  ; 
and  it  was  with  great  reluctance  that  I  accepted  the  convictions 
of  the  Western  people  as  just.  In  this  I  was  not  singular.  But 
few  who  have  acquired  personal  knowledge  of  the  actual  condition 
of  the  two  races  on  the  plains  and  in  the  mountain-valleys  have 
been  able  to  maintain  their  opinions  formed  in  the  East.  At  the 
time  these  letters  were  written,  the  military  were  nearly  as  much 
at  war  with  the  settlers  as  were  the  Indians.  Since  then  our  com- 
manders have  attained  a  better  understanding  of  the  two  races; 
and  the  result  is  the  prospect  of  permanent  peace. 


APPENDIX.  455 

In  General  Sherman's  official  report,  made  November  1,  1868, 
he  recites  some  of  the  revolting  atrocities  of  the  savages,  and 
adds,  "I  recite  these  facts  with  some  precision,  because  they  are 
proved  beyond  dispute  ;  and,  up  to  the  very  moment  of  their  de- 
parture from  Pawnee  Fork,  no  Indian  alleges  any  but  the  kindest 
treatment  on  the  part  of  the  agents  of  the  general  government,  of 
our  soldiers,  or  of  the  frontier  people,  with  one  exception,  Agent 
Leaven  worth." 

Speaking  of  the  regular  army,  he  says,  "The  soldiers,  not  only 
from  a  natural  aversion  to  an  Indian  war,  which  is  all  work  and 
no  glory,  but  under  positive  orders  from  me,  had  borne  with  all 
manner  of  insult  and  provocation,  in  hopes  that  very  soon  the 
measures  of  the  Peace  Commission  would  culminate  in  the  with- 
drawal of  these  savages  from  the  neighborhood  of  our  posts,  roads, 
and  settlements,  and  thereby  end  all  farther  trouble." 

Again  he  says,  "I  am  fully  aware  that  many  of  our  good  peo- 
ple, far  removed  from  contact  with  these  Indians,  and  dwelling 
with  a  painful  interest  on  past  events,  such  as  are  described  to 
have  occurred  in  Minnesota  in  1863  and  at  the  Chivington  mas- 
sacre in  1864,  believe  that  the  whites  are  always  in  the  wrong, 
and  that  the  Indians  have  been  forced  to  resort  to  war  in  self- 
defense,  by  actual  want  or  by  reason  of  our  selfishness.  lam  more 
than  convinced  that  such  is  not  the  case  in  the  present  instance;  and 
I  hope  I  have  made  it  plain." 

The  Indian  war  of  1868-9  is  but  a  continuation  of  the  war  of 
1865-8,  and  its  prosecution,  in  studied  savagery,  has  never 
been  abated  since  the  terrible  sweep  of  the  Indians  from  the 
mountains  down  the  Platte  Valley  nearly  to  the  Missouri,  in  the 
winter  of  1865.  Had  General  Sherman's  report  of  1868  been 
made  three  years  ago,  and  the  campaigns  of  1866-7  been  conducted 
as  Sheridan  has  conducted  his  campaign  just  closed,  many  thou- 
sands of  frontier  lives  and  millions  of  property  would  have  been 
saved.  It  was  true  then,  as  General  Sherman  acknowledges  now 
in  his  report,  that  "it  is  idle  for  us  longer  to  attempt  to  occupy 
the  Plains  in  common  with  these  Indians.  .  .  .  Therefore  a  joint 
occupation  of  that  district  of  country  by  these  two  classes  of  peo- 
ple (settlers  and  savages),  with  such  opposing  interests,  is  a  simple 
impossibility,  and  the  Indians  must  yield;'1  and  there  would  have 
been  peace  long  since,  had  not  soldiers  with  "a  natural  aversion 
to  an  Indian  war"  been  in  the  field,  and  a  systematic  effort  been 


456  APPENDIX. 

made  to  do  what  is  now  a  confessed  impossibility — make  the  in- 
dustrious pioneer  and  the  indolent,  thieving,  and  treacherous  sav- 
age live  in  peace  together.  General  Sherman  now  solves  the 
problem  as  I  begged  him  to  solve  it  in  1867 ;  and  Sheridan's  re- 
cent victories  would  have  been  pronounced  repetitions  of  Sand 
Creek,  had  not  the  government  slowly  and  reluctantly  learned 
that  Sand  Creek,  Elk  Horn,  and  Bear  Kiver  (where  decisive  bat- 
tles were  fought  by  Chivington,  Harney,  and  Conner)  are  the 
only  monuments  of  peace  known  in  the  history  of  the  settlement 
of  the  mountain  Territories.  1  have  referred  to  General  Sherman's 
report  to  show  that  in  the  treatment  of  the  Indian  question  in 
these  letters  I  have  been  fully  sustained  by  the  civil  and  military 
authorities,  and  that  my  statements,  which  were  deemed  harsh  at 
the  time  by  many  Eastern  readers,  were  fully  warranted,  and  have 
been  fully  vindicated. 


THE   END. 


